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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Night on a Spooky Planet
NASA ^ | 31 Oct. 2026 | Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)

Posted on 10/31/2026 1:12:10 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth on a dark and stormy night, of course. The ghostly scene was photographed at Hverir, a geothermally active area found along northeastern Iceland's volcanic landscape. Triggered by solar activity, geomagnetic storms have unleashed energetic particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field. Penetrating the planet's upper atmosphere at high latitudes, the particles create auroral displays in the starry night sky. Ghostly towers of steam and gas are venting from local fumaroles to dance against the eerie, greenish northern lights. For now, auroral activity on planet Earth remains in a high state as the Sun is only in early phases of decline from the peak of its solar activity cycle. And soon, other ghostly apparitions may dance in your neighborhood. Happy Halloween!


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
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1 posted on 10/31/2026 1:12:11 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 10/31/2026 1:12:33 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 31R1O; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 10/31/2026 1:13:18 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Stunning.


4 posted on 10/31/2026 1:21:56 PM PDT by Ciexyz (Prayers for America and Israel.)
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To: MtnClimber

I watched some clips from the 1950s version of the movie War of the Worlds.

The martians never had a chance.

“We are dying from starvation while the earthlings eat cheeseburgers!”

Cheeseburgers……the force is in them.


5 posted on 10/31/2026 1:25:14 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: blueunicorn6

Scientists investigating dark matter should shift their investigations to the universal cheeseburger.


6 posted on 10/31/2026 1:28:48 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Earth is scary enough...


7 posted on 10/31/2026 1:44:07 PM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: MtnClimber

It’s beautiful. I can’t imagine what it would look like being there.


8 posted on 10/31/2026 5:22:45 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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