Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 October 23 - Eagle Aurora over Norway

Eagle Aurora over Norway 
Image Credit & Copyright: Bjørn Jørgensen

Explanation: What's that in the sky? An aurora. A large coronal mass ejection occurred on our Sun five days before this 2012 image was taken, throwing a cloud of fast moving electrons, protons, and ions toward the Earth. Although most of this cloud passed above the Earth, some of it impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and resulted in spectacular auroras being seen at high northern latitudes. Featured here is a particularly photogenic auroral corona captured above Grotfjord, Norway. To some, this shimmering green glow of recombining atmospheric oxygen might appear as a large eagle, but feel free to share what it looks like to you. Although now past Solar Maximum, our Sun continues to show occasional activity creating impressive auroras on Earth visible only last week.

Imagens do Rio de Janeiro - Palacios cariocas - Palácio Laranjeiras

Localizado no bairro de Laranjeiras, a dois quarteirões do Palácio Guanabara, esse palácio foi construído em 1913 para ser residência da Família Guinle.

Em 1947 o Presidente Dutra adquiriu o palacete para destiná-lo a hospedagem de visitantes ilustres e chefes de estado em visita ao Brasil, entre 1956 e 1961 foi a residência oficial da presidência, no governo Juscelino Kubitschek.

Hoje em dia é a residência oficial do governador do estado do Rio de Janeiro.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 October 22 - Cerro Tololo Trails

Cerro Tololo Trails 
Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN), AURA

Explanation: Early one moonlit evening car lights left a wandering trail along the road to the Chilean Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Setting stars left the wandering trails in the sky. The serene view toward the mountainous horizon was captured in a telephoto timelapse image and video taken from nearby Cerro Pachon, home to Gemini South. Afforded by the mountaintop vantage point, the clear, long sight-line passes through layers of atmosphere. The changing atmospheric refraction shifts and distorts the otherwise steady apparent paths of the stars as they set. That effect also causes the distorted appearance of Sun and Moon as they rise or set near a distant horizon.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 October 21 - Full Moon in Mountain Shadow

Full Moon in Mountain Shadow 
Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Chavdarian

Explanation: On October 15, standing near the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea and looking away from a gorgeous sunset produced this magnificent snapshot of a Full Moon rising within the volcanic mountain's shadow. An alignment across the Solar System is captured in the stunning scene and seeming contradiction of bright Moon in dark shadow. The triangular appearance of a shadow cast by a mountain's irregular profile is normal. It's created by the perspective of the distant mountaintop view through the dense atmosphere. Rising as the Sun sets, the antisolar point or the point opposite the Sun is close to the perspective's vanishing point near the mountain shadow's peak. But extending in the antisolar direction, Earth's conical shadow is only a few lunar diameter's wide at the distance of the Moon. So October's Full Hunters Moon is still reflecting sunlight, seen through the mountain's atmospheric shadow but found too far from the antisolar point and the Earth's extended shadow to be eclipsed.

Imagens de Lisboa - Interiores secretos - "Igreja de São Miguel"

Almost every tourist that walks through Alfama passes right by this church, but ends up not knowing that they’re standing by one of the most remarkable works of architecture in the city. Behind a simple façade is a space almost entirely covered with gold leaf, but it can only be admired during Mass on Friday afternoon or early Sunday morning.

Praticamente todos os turistas que passeiam por Alfama passam por esta igreja, mas acabam por não se aperceber que se encontram junto de uma das mais notáveis obras artísticas da cidade. Uma simples fachada esconde um interior quase todo coberto de talha dourada, que apenas pode ser admirado durante a missa às sextas-feiras à tarde ou ao domingo de manhã.

Imagens do Mundo - Surf internacional em Peniche, Portugal

O surfista português Miguel Blanco em competição na praia de Supertubos em Peniche (Portugal). - Rip Curl Pro Portugal -.

CARLOS BARROSO EFE

Imagenes del Mundo - Bebé rinoceronte

Un bebé rinoceronte recién nacido camina tras su madre, en un zoológico de Des Moines, Iowa (Estados Unidos).

RODNEY WHITE AP

Imagenes del Mundo - Flyboard en China

Personas practican el flyboard (una tabla con dos chorros potentes de agua que permiten elevarse sobre el agua), en Yixing (China). REUTERS

Imagenes del Mundo - La niebla de Yantai (China)

La niebla rodea los edificios de Yantai, en la provincia de Shandong (China).

VCG VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES

Imagenes del Mundo - Nave espacial Soyuz MS-02

La nave espacial Soyuz MS-02 con Shane Kimbrough (EE.UU), Sergey Ryzhikov (Rusia) y Andrey Borisenko (Rusia) a bordo, despega hacia la Estación Espacial Internacional (ISS) desde la plataforma de lanzamiento en el cosmódromo de Baikonur (Kazajistán).

SHAMIL ZHUMATOV REUTERS