APOD: 2019 February 18 - Dragon Aurora over Iceland

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

      Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2019 February 18
                          Dragon Aurora over Iceland
              Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang & Wang Zheng

Explanation: Have you ever seen a dragon in the sky? Although real flying
dragons don't exist, a huge dragon-shaped aurora developed in the sky over
Iceland earlier this month. The aurora was caused by a hole in the Sun's
corona that expelled charged particles into a solar wind that followed a
changing interplanetary magnetic field to Earth's magnetosphere. As some of
those particles then struck Earth's atmosphere, they excited atoms which
subsequently emitted light: aurora. This iconic display was so enthralling
that the photographer's mother ran out to see it and was captured in the
foreground. No sunspots have appeared on the Sun so far in February, making
the multiple days of picturesque auroral activity this month somewhat
surprising.

                    Tomorrow's picture: comet buzzes galaxy

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