An extremely rare wave of pink auroras lit up Norway’s skies after a solar storm opened a crack in Earth’s magnetic field. The slit allowed high-energy solar particles to penetrate deeper into our atmosphere, resulting in a stunning light show.
This rare phenomenon occurred last Thursday (3) and was recorded by a group led by Marcus Varek, the tour guide of the Greenlander Tromsø company, which specializes in “hunting” the aurora borealis.
In an interview with Live Science, Varrick said the intense pink lights, bright and visible to the naked eye, appeared around 6 p.m. (local time) and lasted about two minutes.
“This was the strongest pink aurora borealis I’ve seen in over a decade. It was a humbling experience. It astounded my entire group,” said Varek, who has led more than 1,000 tours in search of the northern lights.
to me Site spaceweather.comScientists have discovered a crack in the Earth’s magnetic field after a small solar class x-1 He hit the planet, giving rise to a rare phenomenon.
Rare northern lights spotted in Norway
Photo: Reproduction / Greenlander Tromsø
How are the aurora borealis formed?
The aurora forms when streams of high-energy particles, known as the solar wind, pass around the magnetosphere. The planet’s magnetic field protects us from cosmic radiation, but the shield is naturally weaker at the north and south poles, allowing the solar wind to slide through the atmosphere – usually between 100 and 300 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
As the solar particles pass through the atmosphere, they heat up the gases, which then glow vibrantly in the night sky.
The aurora borealis usually appear green because oxygen atoms, which are abundant in the part of the atmosphere hit by the solar wind, give this color.
However, during last week’s solar storm, a rift in Earth’s magnetosphere allowed the solar wind to penetrate to less than 62 miles (100 kilometers) where nitrogen is the most abundant gas, and as a result, the aurora borealis released a neon pink glow. The magnetosphere hole was closed approximately 6 hours after it was opened.
A rare phenomenon was recorded on November 3 and lasted two minutes
Photo: Reproduction / Greenlander Tromsø
Blue light was also seen
During the pink aurora, a band of blue light also appeared in Sweden’s skies, which can be observed for about 30 minutes, according to Spaceweather.com.
However, experts are not sure whether this phenomenon was a type of aurora caused by the widening gap in the magnetosphere, or if it was the result of another phenomenon.
One expert suggested that the blue light band may be caused by frozen fuel from a Russian rocket, but no rockets have been seen in the area, according to SpaceWeather.com.
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