Looking like a massive firework display, this spectacular northern lights photo shows green and purple colours rippling across the Arctic sky. The picture was taken on September 16 2010, near Skittenelv in the Tromsø area, in northern Norway, by photographer Ole Christian Salomonsen. The aurora borealis is a reflection of recent solar activity which has caused some amazing light shows. The light is caused by explosions on the surface of the sun which throw out electrically charged particles towards the earth. When the solar wind carrying the particles hits our atmosphere it is swept towards the poles by our magnetic field where the particles react with ions in the atmosphere, causing nature's greatest light show. See the next photo for another amazing display...Picture: Ole Christian Salomonsen / National News & Pictures
...This picture of the northern lights - taken by Thilo Bubek - was also shot near Tromso in northern Norway earlier this month. Picture: Thilo Bubek / NAtional News & Pictures
A statue of Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture, is silhouetted against the rising super harvest moon as it stands on top of the Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City. The rare occurrence of the Super Harvest Moon occurs when the autumnal equinox coincides with the full moon and what NASA calls a '360-degree, summer-autumn twilight glow that is only seen on rare occasions'. The last time such a Super Harvest Moon happened in 1991Picture: AP
The moon rises behind Coit Tower in San Francisco, California - the first time in two decades that the Sun has sunk as a full Moon has risen exactly opposite to it on the autumnal equinox, or the beginning of autumn. Picture: GETTY
The heart of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) is pictured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. Seen as a massive cloud of glowing dust and gas, bombarded by the energetic radiation of new stars, this placid name hides a dramatic reality. Located 4,000 to 5,000 light-years away, in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer), Messier 8 is a huge region of star birth that stretches across 100 light-years. Clouds of hydrogen gas are slowly collapsing to form new stars, whose bright ultraviolet rays then light up the surrounding gas in a distinctive shade of redPicture: NASA / ESA / AFP
Some of those are quite amazing!
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