Credit & Copyright: Zoltan Kenwell[/email](Infocus Imagery)
Explanation:
Few auroras show this level of detail.Above, a standard digital camera captured a particularly active and colorfulauroral corona that occurred last week above Alberta, Canada.With a shape reminiscent of a flower, thespectacular aurora had an unusually high degree ofdetail.The vivid green and purple auroral colors are caused by high atmosphericoxygen andhydrogenreacting to a burst of incomingelectrons. Many photogenic auroras have been triggered from asolar windstream that recently passed the Earth.The auroras were unexpected because the initiating Sun has beenunusually quiet of late.