APOD: 2021 January 3 - A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland

An awesome picture.

It really does look like a phoenix

Thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy digitally-composed, image mosaic Picture of the Day (APOD) for Sunday, January 3, 2021 entitled "A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland."

This marvelous 'digitally-composed, image mosaic' picture is certainly crafted to resemble the mythical Phoenix :-)
Image: A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland - Image Credit & Copyright - Hallgrimur P. Helgason; Rollover Annotation - Judy Schmidt

APOD Background
"Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet September night, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, surprisingly, pareidoliacally, the night lit up with an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30 kilometers north of Iceland's capital Reykjavík. Seasoned skywatchers will note that just above the mountain, toward the left, is the constellation of Orion, while the Pleiades star cluster is also visible just above the frame center. The 2016 aurora, which lasted only a minute and was soon gone forever -- would possibly be dismissed as an fanciful fable -- were it not captured in the featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic."

Michael Peters - Aurora Borealis Hurricane Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QA2VJM68B4

FYI Maj Robert Thornton Lt Col Charlie Brown COL Mikel J. Burroughs PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Sgt Vance Bonds MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. TSgt David L. SPC Nancy GreenePO2 (Join to see) SSG Michael Noll SMSgt David A Asbury SMSgt Lawrence McCarter MSgt Paul Connors PO1 H Gene Lawrence SPC Michael Terrell SPC Michael Terrell SSG Samuel Kermon