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~ Volcanic sunset from Hunga-Tonga eruption on the 23rd March 2022 ~

3/23/2022

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We’ve had some strange colourful sunsets in the western sky for the past couple of days here on the Gold Coast.  Then I realised from some postings on Spaceweather.com that it could be aerosols in the atmosphere from the volcanic plume left over from the Tonga-Hunga eruption.
 
Thank you Peter Lowenstein from Zimbabwe & Tara Williams from Pottsville NSW for highlighting this with your postings on Spaceweather.
https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=183195
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https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=183147
 
I got really excited to see what I could capture but had to drive up to Mt Tamborine to get a good western horizon, so I grabbed my husband and said we were going on an adventure, told him to grab a beer and lets go…
 
After the Sun had set, we waited and watched the sky above where the Sun has set and you could definitely see the aerosols in the sky all along the horizon and up into the sky.

​As the time went by, you could then see crepuscular rays forming in this material. I was so pleased to have made the effort to drive up the mountain; it was well and truly worth it :-)
 
Images taken with a Canon 70D camera and an 18-400mm lens, my husband took the image of my taking photos with his iPhone :-)

Please go to NASA’s JPL Earth Science website to read more on this eruption at:
Tonga Eruption Sent Ripples Through Earth’s Ionosphere
Feb. 4, 2022
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/tonga-eruption-sent-ripples-through-earths-ionosphere
 
When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, 2022, it unleashed a violent explosion with the equivalent force of 4 to 18 megatons of TNT, according to estimates from NASA geologist Jim Garvin.
 
This explosion produced an acoustic shockwave that was strong enough to perturb the ionosphere, the outer layer of the atmosphere that starts about 50 to 56 miles (80 to 90 kilometers) above Earth’s surface and contains electrons ionized by the Sun’s energy.
 
Further reading at:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149367/dramatic-changes-at-hunga-tonga-hunga-haapai 
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149474/tonga-volcano-plume-reached-the-mesosphere
​Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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    I just love being under the heavens, come on a journey with me and I’ll share some of the amazing wonders of the Universe with you. Noeleen :-)

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