Almost unsuspecting observer stands before the vast cosmos theatre, speculating about the sky and admiring. However, skies are usually the deepest source of knowledge. And thanks to astrophotography, something very incredible could be discovered, or observed. The man in the photograph is staring at the night sky and thinking what kind of phenomena could light up the sky with so much intensity. He might think it’s a well-known atmospheric phenomenon called airglow, but his eyes can’t detect the beautiful colors of this show. He even realized the brightness of the landscape was raised a bit. Until the camera shows the face of the sky and uncover the colors of chemical reactions in high atmospheric layers. As You can see, the atmospheric glow covered the whole sky in so much intensity, it even raised the brightness of the landscape suddenly. Green color is caused by atomic oxygen emission in 557.7nm (with the maximum in about 97km) and red color with the similar atomic oxygen reaction, but in 630nm and up to 300km above the ground. Just one day before the Annular Solar Eclipse, the Sun made another interesting while for astronomers and observers, indeed. Although airglow appearance depends on solar activity and UV radiation from the Sun. But all this beauty was possible to observe just for a very less amount of light pollution. In official Dark Sky Park Poloniny – there’s the darkest place in Slovakia, with Bortle 2 sky classification.
Location: Runina – Dark Sky Park Poloniny, Slovakia
Date: 9th of June, 2021
Time: About 01:00 AM UTC+2h
Category: Panorama
EXIF: 45 images – 15″, ISO 10.000, f/2.2
Equipment: Canon 6D modified, Sigma Art 28mm from tripod
