Aurora Borealis (Northern lights) October 10, 2024 Description: On October 9, 2024, a major solar flare occurred at the location on the Sun that was directly aligned with Earth. This was what scientists call a halo coronal mass ejection (CME). Alerts were triggered on...
Light pillars Description: It’s always a bit surprising to see these columns of light appear out of nowhere, most often in winter. They are caused by the refraction of moonlight, or simply bright lighting (near ski resorts for example) through very fine...
Noctilucent cloud Description: A noctilucent cloud forms in the mesosphere at about 75 to 90 kilometers altitude, compared to a maximum of 12 km for common clouds. These are ice crystals that form around nuclei of dust or water vapor released by space launchers. In...
Supernova SN 2020ifo in galaxy M61 Description: On May 6, 2020, a supernova appeared in the galaxy Messier 61 in the constellation Virgo. This is the eighth supernova to be discovered in this galaxy since 1926. This supernova results from the collapse of a supergiant...
Twin quasar and gravitational lensing Description: A short distance from the galaxy NGC 3079 in this photo, we can see two quasars that are a huge distance away from us. Two quasars? No. They are one and the same quasar that is 7.8 billion light-years away (redshift...
