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Credit & Copyright: Park Liu
Explanation:
What's happening behind Uluru?
A United Nations World Heritage Site,
Uluru
is an extraordinary 350-meter high mountain in central
Australia
that rises sharply from nearly flat surroundings.
Composed of sandstone, Uluru has
slowly formed over the past 300 million years as softer rock eroded away.
In the background of the featured image taken in mid-May,
a raging thunderstorm is visible.
Far behind both
Uluru and the
thunderstorm is a
star-filled sky highlighted by the constellation of Orion.
The Uluru region has been a
home
to humans for
over
22,000 years.
Local
indigenous people have long noted that when the
stars that compose the
modern constellation of Orion first appear in the night sky, a
hot season involving
lightning storms will soon be arriving.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Orion - lightning
Publications with words: Orion - lightning
See also:
- APOD: 2024 January 31 Á Camera Orion Rising
- APOD: 2024 January 16 Á The Orion You Can Almost See
- APOD: 2023 October 2 Á Sprite Lightning in High Definition
- APOD: 2023 September 18 Á The Red Sprite and the Tree
- APOD: 2023 June 25 Á Lightning on Jupiter
- APOD: 2023 April 17 Á ELVES Lightning over Italy
- APOD: 2023 January 25 Á LDN 1622: The Boogeyman Nebula