GOLD First Light (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

GOLD First Light

Caption

First light data from GOLD was captured at 6 a.m. local time, near sunrise in eastern South America, and shows the ultraviolet atomic oxygen emission from Earth's upper atmosphere. Colors correspond to emission brightness, with the strongest in red and the weakest in blue. The emission is produced at altitudes around 100 miles above the surface (note how it extends above Earth's surface on the horizon), when Earth's upper atmosphere absorbs high energy photons and particles. The aurora, at the top and bottom of the image, and daytime airglow, on the right-hand side, are also visible. An ultraviolet star, 66 Ophiuchi, is visible above the western horizon of Earth.

Credit

NASA/LASP/GOLD

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