Green sky at night, what a delight!
Spectacular: The Northern Lights bursting into a spectacular display of purple in Norway The display was captured early yesterday morning by Øystein Lunde Ingvaldsen, who grabbed his camera when he saw what was happening outside his window at Bø in Vesterålen, Norway.
Stunning auroras offer a cosmic light show in 2010 to skywatchers on Earth. Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway says: “Tonight (Apr. 5, 2010) the storm hit the Earth with full force, producing some of the nicest auroras of the whole season…. Never before have I been able to watch auroras without freezing, which is a completely new experience to me.”
Zoltan Kenwell captured this image north of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on April 1, 2010. He said: “This is what the profile of the Aurora belt looks like at my latitude. Soft and fluffy! A very different view than the lucky ones much closer to the north.”
M-P Markkanen, of Posio, Finland captured this image on April 1, 2010, and remarked, “What a lovely moonrise it was! And when I turned my back the auroras were performing their own show on the northern sky! It’s my birthday (yes, I’m April’s Fool), so nature gave me [a] lovely present.”
Steve Thomson of Cromwell, Central Otago, New Zealand, took this shot of the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) on April 6, 2010.
“I’m in heaven,” says photographer P-M Hedén. “Well almost, I’m in Härjedalen, Sweden with a lovely landscape, great night sky and [the] Aurora Borealis!”
John Dean, of Nome, Alaska took this photo on Apr. 5, 2010. “Lots of rayed bands, arcs, curtains … ” he said.
Skywatcher Tony Wilder of Chippewa Falls, Wis. took this snapshot of green auroras reflecting off water during a strong geomagnetic storm on May 2-3, 2010.
Skywatcher Joseph Shaw of Bozeman, Montana took this stunning view of red auroras shining bright during an intense geomagnetic storm overnight on May 2-3, 2010
Astronaut Soichi Noguchi snapped this picture of auroras over North America from the International Space Station. “Astro_Soichi,” as he is known on Twitter, posted it to the internet on May 8, 2010. Lake Michigan is the dark area outlined by lights. Chicago, Illinois is represented by the bright concentration of lights adjoining the lake.
An aurora borealis, or northern lights, twists across the heavens above Ersfjord (map), Norway, in the first hour of September 15.
Three days earlier NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a sun-monitoring satellite, witnessed a magnetic eruption on the sun, which unleashed a gigantic cloud of charged particles into space. The southern part of the particle cloud, or solar wind, grazed Earth‘s magnetic field on the 14th and 15th, resulting in a particularly good night for aurorae.
During the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn and spring, solar magnetic fields are oriented in just the right way to cause “rips” in Earth’s magnetic field. The resulting increase in solar wind on Earth encourages auroral sky shows but can also damage satellite technology and electrical grids on the ground.
“Changes in the magnetic field for both the sun and Earth really determine what [particles] get launched into space and hit the Earth,” said John Manuel, a research scientist with the Canadian Space Agency.
“The orientation and variability in the magnetic fields are really what end up making it more or less favorable for auroras here on Earth.”
Sparked by charged particles that had been ejected by the sun three days earlier, an aurora borealis streaks into view in the wee hours of September 15 over Ersfjord, Norway. The same night, similar shows enlivened skies over northern Canada and elsewhere in Europe.
When a charged-particle cloud enters the upper atmosphere of Earth, it smashes into and breaks up gas molecules, creating the northern lights (or in the Southern Hemisphere, the southern lights).
“Like gas inside a neon sign, as the atoms smash together they begin to glow—producing a great light show,” Manuel said.
The colors a sky-watcher sees depends on what type of gas is being hit and how high it is. For example, the green aurora pictured was the result of oxygen-atom collisions about 60 to 120 miles (100 to 200 kilometers) up.
Northern lights, or aurora borealis, stride across clouds above Ersfjord, Norway, shortly before 1 a.m. on September 15.
The display was all the more impressive because the moon had already set, scientists say. When it’s above the horizon, the moon can wash out all but the most intense of displays with its light.
An aurora borealis appears to touch down on an illuminated bridge in Sommarøya in northern Norway on September 8.
In addition to the September 11 coronal mass ejection (CME)—a giant bubble of charged solar particles—multiple bursts of solar magnetic activity shot CMEs toward Earth in the first few days of September.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory caught sight of the initial explosive flare emanating from a giant group of sunspots. The flare sent a CME racing toward Earth at 250 miles (400 kilometers) per second. When the particles smacked Earth’s magnetic field on the eighth, auroral sparks flew.
An aurora borealis appears to touch down on an illuminated bridge in Sommarøya in northern Norway on September 8.
In addition to the September 11 coronal mass ejection (CME)—a giant bubble of charged solar particles—multiple bursts of solar magnetic activity shot CMEs toward Earth in the first few days of September.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory caught sight of the initial explosive flare emanating from a giant group of sunspots. The flare sent a CME racing toward Earth at 250 miles (400 kilometers) per second. When the particles smacked Earth’s magnetic field on the eighth, auroral sparks flew.
An aurora borealis glows brightly over Churchill, Canada. Auroras occur when charged particles outside the Earth’s atmosphere collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere. The result: a glowing display of curtains, arcs, and bands in the sky. The phenomenon is called aurora borealis or northern lights in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis or southern lights in the Southern Hemisphere.
The sky over Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, churns with light from an aurora borealis.
The northern lights turn the night sky an otherworldly green above Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada.
An aurora borealis sends ribbons of yellow-green light through the sky over northern Canada.
The northern lights streak across the twilight sky.
The aurora borealis illuminates the heavens with ghostly patterns.
An aurora shimmers over Troy, New York, two days after the sun emitted a series of spectacular flares.
The aurora borealis lights up the sky above a snow-covered Canadian homestead.
The northern lights arch above the treeline in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.
A subdued aurora fills the sky above the Mackenzie River in Canada’s Northwest Territories
Luminous green flames from the aurora borealis flicker in the Canadian sky.
The northern lights spotlight evergreens in Canada.
The aurora borealis forms a green curtain above Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada
A long exposure shows star trails behind a red-and-green aurora in Canada’s Northwest Territories. In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called aurora borealis, or northern lights. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s called aurora australis, or southern lights
A long exposure shows star trails behind a red-and-green aurora in Canada’s Northwest Territories. In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called aurora borealis, or northern lights. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s called aurora australis, or southern lights
Light from an aurora borealis swirls over Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Sources: space * nationalgeographic
