APOD: 2026 October 6 - A Complete Auroral Oval from SMILE - NASA Science

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 6 – A… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. ESA, CAS, SMILE, UVI A Complete Auroral Oval from SMILE Explanation: Have you ever seen a complete auroral oval? You can’t see one from the ground because it makes too large a circle around one of Earth’s magnetic pole s. But spacecraft high above the Earth can see them. The featured video from ESA and CAS ‘s robotic SMILE spacecraft shows not only a full auroral oval , but using ultraviolet light , one that occurred during the day. The time-lapse covers about an hour in late July and shows visually how variable and turbulent auroras really are. The points of light on the sides are distant star s that appear to move only because SMILE’s camera view shifts as the spacecraft orbits the Earth. A goal of SMILE is to better understand how the Sun’s wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetosphere — and so better understand how to protect astronauts, spacecraft, and ground-based electrical grids from solar storms . Tomorrow’s picture: a ghost Date: October 6, 2026 Credit: ESA , CAS , SMILE , UVI Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC , NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. Random APOD Generator Yesterday’s Image APOD: 2026 October 5 – M104: The Sombrero Galaxy’s Tidal Streams Tomorrow’s Image — Company newsroom — sourced from NASA. Matter furnished by the company. Not a Notice Nearby paid placement. This page reprints matter furnished by the company from its official newsroom. Notice Nearby did not write this release. Read the original: https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-october-6-a-complete-auroral-oval-from-smile