Northern light enthusiasts got a surprise mixed in with the green bands of light dancing in the Alaska skies: A light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appeared amid the aurora for a few minutes.
Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope found a tail of stars stretching 200,000 light-years out away from a galaxy known as F8D1.
The Subaru Telescope successfully demonstrated first light with a new instrument that will use about 2400 fiberoptic cables to capture the light from heavenly objects. Full operation is scheduled to start around 2024.