Mt. Rainier and airglow picture

[n2doc]

The Northern Lights have been making relatively frequent appearances over the Northwest this summer, but the green tinge captured in photographs above Mt. Rainier on the night of July 12th wasn't the aurora.

It was instead what's known as "airglow."

Unlike aurora, airglow covers the entire planet and is there all the time, caused by reactions between solar energy and certain air molecules. It's just not visible in daytime due to sunlight and is hard to spot at night from other light pollution.

But according to the Atmospheric Optics website, airglow fluctuates a bit with the 11-year solar cycle as increased solar activity can enhance it a bit. And solar activity was high last weekend when these photographers were taken.

Darren Neupert was one of three photographers that captured the airglow recently.

"I thought it was the Northern Lights not only because of the green glow but due to its movement across the sky," he said. "I'm still pretty excited about the shot even though it does not show the Northern Lights. I'll take 'airglow.' "

more

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Photo-Mt-Rainier-as-you-never-have-seen-it-4675257.php

[geckosfeet]

1. Nothing beats the glory of natures beauty.

Not drugs. Not religion. Not sex. Not fine wwine or gourmet food.





But a fresh package of twinkies comes close.

[calimary]

3. No kidding! Add some salted caramels and you're closer, though!

[nolabear]

2. I wish I could catch one of these. Ranier is how we measure how good the weather is.

Allkinds of cool things happen around that mountain. I understand one of the earliest UFO sightings was a cloud formation we see now and again.

[defacto7]

4. So K&R!

[pokerfan]

5. I've been there

14410 feet. Three times with the Mountaineers.

[SunSeeker]

6. Beautiful! nt