APOD 3.8

This picture is quite interesting. "Yukon Aurora with Star Trails" depicts a long exposure picture, of the far North. I have never really been able to comprehend how these pictures are taken, the concept of basically recording the movement of the stars, over several hours on one picture, simply boggles the mind. The especially great thing about this picture, is that the Aurora can be seen quite clearly in the picture. I would very much like to see an Aurora before I die, as it seems to be a phenomenon the likes of which can not be replicated anyhow. While browsing the embedded links, I learned that the Aurora is caused by magnetic field interactions with electrons and ions in the atmosphere. Also, that it is possible to see the Aurora in the lower 48 states sometimes, but only when the Sun has magnetic storms, which enlarge the area of magnetic field interactions to the lower states.