The rare natural phenomenon was photographed on December 10 by a Norwegian photographer who organizes
Polar Lights. Photo: Markus Varik
An unusual phenomenon occurred whenAccording to forecasts of space weather forecasters, no auroras should have been observed on Earth. Instruments did not detect a geomagnetic storm that day, which usually causes auroras. This was the second observation when the sky turned pink and orange, the photographer notes. For the first time, he recorded these bright colors in November.
Canadian Space Agency expertsnote that the aurora can acquire a pink border at the bottom when streams of charged particles from the solar wind penetrate deeper into the Earth's atmosphere and reach a height of about 100 km above the planet's surface. This color is the result of the interaction of charged particles with nitrogen molecules. Traditional green colors are formed by oxygen molecules at an altitude of 100 to 300 km.
Polar Lights. Photos: Markus Varick
Previous pink aurora at the startNovember arose when a relatively weak geomagnetic storm formed a crack in the Earth's magnetic field, allowing the solar wind to flow into the deeper layers of the atmosphere. What exactly caused the phenomenon observed on December 10 remains a mystery.
Previously, Hi-Tech talked about how the auroras are formed and whether they can be observed on other planets.
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