Fireball Above Iceland
by Babak Tafreshi
https://print.babaktafreshi.com/talks-workshops-tours

"On 2023 September 13, near the northern most point of Iceland, the night sky exploded with the northern lights and a spectacular fireball, above the Arctic Henge monument. I was about to move our group to another spot when this tennis-ball sized space rock entered the earth atmosphere and burned at an altitude of 60-90 km above us, becoming as bright as the full moon for a moment. Such meteors are very rare to witness. Even for a frequent observer like me it took three decades to finally record one in video!
I was on my biannual Aurora PhotoTour. My Icelandic colleague ‪Stjornu Saevar‬ appears near the clip’s end, on a phone interview with the local media about the meteor."

CREDIT
Babak Tafreshi

2023 September 16

Fireball over Iceland
* Image Credit & Copyright: Jennifer Franklin

Explanation:
On September 12, from a location just south of the Arctic Circle, stones of Iceland's modern Arctic Henge point skyward in this startling scene. Entertaining an intrepid group of aurora hunters during a geomagnetic storm, alluring northern lights dance across the darkened sky when a stunning fireball meteor explodes. Awestruck, the camera-equipped skygazers captured video and still images of the boreal bolide, at its peak about as bright as a full moon. Though quickly fading from view, the fireball left a lingering visible trail or persistent train. The wraith-like trail was seen for minutes wafting in the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 60 to 90 kilometers along with the auroral glow.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230916.html

2013 November 18

Aurora and Unusual Clouds Over Iceland
* Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)
http://www.nuitsacrees.fr/

Explanation:
What's happening in the sky? On this cold winter night in Iceland, quite a lot. First, in the foreground, lies the largest glacier in Iceland: Vatnajokull. On the far left, bright green auroras appear to emanate from the glacier as if it was a volcano. Aurora light is reflected by the foreground lake Jökulsárlón. On the far right is a long and unusual lenticular cloud tinged with green light emitted from another aurora well behind it. Just above this lenticular cloud are unusual iridescent lenticular clouds displaying a broad spectral range of colors. Far beyond the lenticular is the setting Moon, while far beyond even the Moon are setting stars. The above image was captured in late March of 2012.

2018 December 9

Aurora Shimmer, Meteor Flash
* Image Credit & Copyright: Bjørnar G. Hansen

Explanation:
Some night skies are serene and passive -- others shimmer and flash. The later, in the form of auroras and meteors, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on 2009 December 13. This 30 second long exposure records a shimmering auroral glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, the image also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from the excellent Geminid meteor shower of 2009. Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, the trail points back toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view. Both auroras and meteors occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, but aurora caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of cosmic dust. Nine years after this photograph was taken, toward the end of this week, the yearly 2018 Geminids meteor shower will peak again, although this time their flashes will compete with the din of a half-lit first-quarter moon during the first half of the night.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181209.html

2018 September 22

Window Seat over Hudson Bay
* Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Rohner
https://ralf-rohner.pixels.com/

Explanation:
On the August 18 night flight from San Francisco to Zurich, a window seat offered this tantalizing view when curtains of light draped a colorful glow across the sky over Hudson Bay. Constructed by digitally stacking six short exposures made with a hand held camera, the scene records the shimmering aurora borealis or northern lights just as the approaching high altitude sunrise illuminated the northeastern horizon. It also caught the flash of a Perseid meteor streaking beneath the handle stars of the Big Dipper of the north. A few days past the meteor shower's peak, its trail still points across the sky toward Perseus. Beautiful aurorae and shower meteors both occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, far above commercial airline flights. The aurora are caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of comet dust.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180922.html