Triple APOD - August 23, 2024: Ultra-Wide Aurora by Alden Foraie

Ultrawide-angle lenses play a useful part in astronomy and astrophotography, and they've come a long way in terms of optical design. Nowadays, they can be had for very reasonable prices, and on the higher end, lenses with faster apertures and sharper stars than were ever possible are now available thanks to advances in optical engineering and manufacturing. They're invaluable for capturing wide swaths of the sky at once, very useful for aurora photography in particular. Theyre also helpful for milky way photography, as the wider field of view allows you to expose for longer without tracking before star trails become apparent. All-sky cameras also use ultra-wide lenses, sometimes with a full 180-degree field of view, to monitor the night sky to watch for incoming clouds and changes in sky quality over an observatory. 

Alden took this with a Canon Rebel T5i and an Opteka 8 mm fisheye at f/3.5, ISO 1600, one 29 second exposure