Magnificent Aurora in Finland

Spaceweather, Jan. 8, 2011

Timo Newton-Syms of Ruka, Finland, took the picture on Jan. 7th when a
\ solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field. "The auroras where widespread
 and visible despite passing clouds and light pollution from the nearby ski slopes,"
 he says. The same stream of solar wind continues to buffet Earth's magnetic field,
and is the source of the expected geomagnetic activity this weekend.

Aurora Picture Galleries


Amazing natural phenomenon parhelion appears in NE China

A parhelion (sundog) combined with a halo is seen in Changchun,
capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, Jan. 8, 2011. The
weather phenomenon is created by ice crystals in the atmosphere
during a cold weather period. (Xinhua/Wang Haofei)

In Stockholm, Sweden, the sun was only up for a little while Wednesday (Jan, 12, 2011), but it made good use of its time. Sunbeams lanced through ice crystals in the air, producing a busy halo of surpassing beauty. "This was the most spectacular sun halo I have seen in recent years from Stockholm," says photographer Peter Rosén. "It was visible for the whole (short) day." In addition to the sundogs, upper tangent arc, and 22° halo captured in the snapshot above, Rosén also witnessed "a 46° outer halo and a circumzenithal arc as ice crystals blew in gusts across the sun. What a show!" More Images ......