This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower . Therefore, meteors streaked across the dark night as small bits cast off from Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing into the Earth's atmosphere . Even more unusually, for central Germany at least, the night sky glowed purple . The red-blue hue was due to aurora caused by an explosion of particles from the Sun a few days before. This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south as Texas and Italy , in Earth's northern hemisphere. The featured image composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from Ense , Germany . The Perseids occur predictably every August, but auroras visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable.
Media Credits & Attribution
Image Credit & Copyright: Chantal Anders