Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

X-Ray Earth

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 30, 1996 is “X-Ray Earth,” an image. It is credited to Credit: Polar, PIXIE, NASA. The original explanation runs about 109 words.

X-Ray Earth
Credit: Polar, PIXIE, NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Explanation : The Earth glows in many kinds of light, including the energetic X-ray band. Actually, the Earth itself does not glow – only aurora produced high in the Earth’s atmosphere .”

— APOD editors, December 30, 1996

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 30, 1996
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Polar, PIXIE, NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 109 words

All of December 1996 → · 1996 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Auroras

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 30 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.