Green Aurora Above La Mauricie National Park, Quebec
August 09, 2012
Photographer: Gilles Boutin
Summary Authors: Gilles Boutin; Jim Foster
The photo above showing a vivid display of the northern lights was taken near La Mauricie National Park in Quebec, Canada on the night of July 15, 2012. The North Star or Polaris, the star most nearly overhead the North Pole, is at top center and the Big Dipper is at left. Though auroras can be observed in the mid-latitudes during spring and summer, they fail to attract much attention further north of about 60 degrees latitude, where they're routinely viewed during autumn and winter. This is because the night sky is simply too bright in polar regions during the summer season. Green colored auroras are attributed to the interaction of oxygen molecules with energetic particles streaming from the Sun toward Earth's geomagnetic poles. [Revised May 2017]
Photo Details: Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D; Focal Length: 17mm; Aperture: f/2.8; Exposure Time: 13.000 s; ISO equiv: 1600; Software: Adobe Photoshop 7.0.