John Seminara                                                                                               2/7/14

Earth Science                                                                         Homework Assignment One

Image Cited

"Astronomy Picture of the Day." APOD: 2014 February 6. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. <http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140206.html>.

 

-           This magnificent photo was taken on the evening of January 25^th following the sunset using a digital camera in the Yunnan Province of South-West China. The persistent airglow, which is ultimately demonstrated in this picture, is a result from chemiluminescence. This means that the obstinate airglow is caused by electronically or vibration-rotationally atoms or molecules being remarkably excited 80km or higher. The amount of chemical energy that is required is provided by the sun’s extreme ultraviolet radiation occurring on this night. As depicted in the image, the glow of a purple and dark red is exhibited throughout the entire night sky. This helps to show the uniqueness of the photo since it allows the brightness of the multiple stars to really pop out in addition to being astonishing because of how bright they seem in the glowing sky. The different shades of color present in the sky make larger stars contrast more with stars that are smaller in regards to size. Furthermore another noteworthy aspect of this picture is evident in the darkness that envelopes the mountains and countryside beneath the well lit sky. In addition, interestingly the stars are admirably reflected in the rice terraces below the sky, demonstrating their brightness. Lastly, it would be attention-grabbing to be able to view this scenario occurring in different parts of the world and how different environments may have an impact on the different colors and the overall portrayal of this sort of reaction that may possibly occur in other places all across the globe. Additionally some questions that were arisen include ideas of why people continuously overlook extraordinary photos such as the one depicted above? Moreover, another question that came up was why does society not capture images such as this one more often and truly become captivated by how superb the uniqueness of the image is? Having the capability to capture this scene in an image gives people the time to enjoy looking at the picture and it would come to my understanding that not too many people get the opportunity to relish this experience in the moment, and actually being able to attend and witness this in real life.