An extremely rare pink aurora recently lit up the night sky over Norway.This happened after
The stunning light show was spotted by a tour group led by Markus Varick, a guide and Northern Lights expert from the Greenlander travel company.It is based near the city of Tromsø in Norway.The bright auroras appeared around 18:00 local time and lasted about 2 minutes, Varick told Live Science.
These were the strongest pink auroras I've seen in 10 yearsas a guide.
Markus Varick, guide and Northern Lights expert at Greenlander
Pink auroras appeared shortly afterhow a small crack appeared in the magnetosphere. Let us remind you that the magnetosphere is an invisible field surrounding the Earth, which is generated by the liquid metal core of the planet. According to Spaceweather.com, scientists discovered the breach after a small G-1 solar storm hit Earth on November 3.
Pink auroras are extremely rare. Image Credit: Markus Varik/Greenlander
Auroras are formed due to streamshigh energy charged particles. The planet's magnetic field shields the planet from cosmic radiation, but it is weaker at the North and South Poles, allowing the solar wind to skim through the atmosphere—typically 100 to 300 kilometers above the Earth's surface. As solar particles travel through the atmosphere, they superheat gases, which then glow brightly in the night sky, according to NASA.
Auroras most often appear green,because the oxygen atoms, which are plentiful in the part of the atmosphere where it normally travels, give off this hue when excited. However, during a recent solar storm, a crack in the Earth's magnetosphere allowed the solar wind to penetrate below 100 km. Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in that region. When supercharged particles crashed into its atoms, a neon-pink glow appeared.
A crack in Earth's magnetosphere also contributed to the strong green aurora during the night, Varik said.
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On the cover: pink auroras. Image Credit: Markus Varik/Greenlander