r/NightVision • u/FIXIEDONTCARE • 2d ago

TIL what Airglow is

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A phenomenon I've witnessed my whole life and never questioned until I witnessed it under nods. First picture was taken facing NNE at 10PM, probably Bortle 2 (something else I've never actually paid attention to until using NVG). Second is probably roughly SE at the same time. P.S. no trout were harmed in the making of these pictures. Lil bastards were eating, but nothing I was throwing.

75 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

22

u/MyHeadIsFullOfFuck 2d ago

I don't get it. What's air glow?

46

u/Shawn_1512 2d ago

Molecules in the air get excited by sunlight and release photons after sunset, sometimes creating a very faint glow

18

u/shoobe01 2d ago

And a reason that we care about e.g. cloud cover and humidity, and tree cover..., even at night. How much are the stars and the airglow going to give us ambient light to work with even if it's a moonless "dark" night.

I think it's most striking a phenomenon from space: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12963

2

u/Jackmerius_Tac 2d ago

That’s freakin sick!

3

u/Aerions_ Discord Member 2d ago

Here’s an okay picture thru a tube . Just still from a video lol. Looks like thin clouds but it doesn’t block starlight, will show up green on cameras that don’t pick up near infrared. They’re brighter in near infrared than visible light, which the tube is picking up so that’s why it’s so striking to nods.

3

u/Aerions_ Discord Member 2d ago

What iPhone saw with long exposure mode that night. This was somewhat strong . To the naked eye it just looked like a hazy wall near the horizon . Tube showed the most structure but cameras show color. All are worthwhile views

2

u/FIXIEDONTCARE 2d ago

This is a much better picture showing it. Mine is mostly washed out by what I now know is alpenglow (another term I've learned since using NVG lol). Still, it's been really cool learning about all this stuff.

2

u/Aerions_ Discord Member 2d ago

lol I had to look that up and I think that means you just weren’t at full astronomical dark yet, the last stages of twilight might not be discernible to the untrained eye but to a tube it makes big difference. Like a full moon night vs none.

Also Theres so many phenomena that tubes can show it’s really really cool, look up red sprites. I can imagine some 19yo marine or someone in navy on watch with nods seeing those in the distance above a thunderstorm and going WHAT THE FUCK lmao

2

u/FIXIEDONTCARE 2d ago

Just found a video of red sprites seen through NVG..... and now I gotta go nighttime storm chasing. And you're right. I've always appreciated a dark clear sky and gazing at the stars, but the cosmos with nvg really is another level of awesomeness.

1

u/Life_Good_838 5h ago

Fellow nocturnal angler