A stream of solar plasma has reached Earth in recent days, loading the atmosphere with particles from the solar wind that have caused aurorae to appear across large swathes of the UK, an area where such events are extremely rare.
Many of the records set this morning have been shared on social media, and meteorologists expect more such displays to be on the way, as the storm that originated in another solar flare is expected to hit our planet on Monday (27).
One of the most impressive shots was taken on a plane approaching London Heathrow Airport from Billund, Denmark.
Passenger Ben Aplin wrote: “Awesome views of the Northern Lights last night on a British Airways flight from Billund to Heathrow.” “Thanks to the pilot who turned off the lights so we could capture this moment! I got some time-lapses and they came out great.”
For the first time, Irish photographer Evan Boyce experienced a night of twilight stalking, producing amazing results on the first hunt.
“I first picked up a camera during the Covid-19 lockdown and have wanted to capture the Northern Lights ever since,” Boyce told the website. space.com by email. “It’s very difficult to live in Northern Ireland because of how far south we are compared to where the Northern Lights can usually be seen.”
He added that all his previous attempts to capture the aurora had been ruined by the cloudy weather. On Sunday night (26th), Boyce drove to a beach between the towns of Bangor and Donagady, a short drive from the capital, Belfast. There, he was able to record a mysterious green and red glow over a historic building, against the backdrop of a starry sky.
“I can’t believe how lucky I was,” Boyce said. “Judging by the reaction of other local photographers, last night’s strength and color was a rare occurrence.”
Astrophotographer Stuart Atkinson, who lives in the famous Lake District Nature Park in northwest England, has finally captured intense red lights after what he describes as a “frustrating aurora hunt” due to weather.
“I got the pictures last night from a place called Shap, which is probably one of the highest spots in my area and far enough north of where I live to give me a better view of the Northern Lights than I might get at home,” Atkinson said. “Last night’s conditions were really bad at first, almost clouds filling in, but after an hour or so a big gap came up and I got a few shots.”
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Northern Lights sightings have also been reported from Canada and the United States in Alaska, Ohio and New York.
According to the UK Met Office’s Space Weather Service, the spectacle was the result of a coronal mass ejection (CME), a powerful explosion of solar plasma from an active region, or sunspot, that erupted from the Sun on Friday (24).
The colors visible in the aurora displays are caused by certain interactions between particles in the solar wind and chemical compounds in the air. “Different gases glow in a different colour,” said Avela Wibisono, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Oxygen glows green, while nitrogen emits blue and purple. If these incoming charged particles are particularly energetic, the elevated oxygen might also emit a deep red color, and the nitrogen might glow pink.”
The Twilight Hunters are on guard tonight as another, more powerful CME is poised to arrive. The Met Office is forecasting a strong G3 geomagnetic storm, which in addition to producing more impressive displays of aurora borealis, could also cause minor problems for satellite operators and power grids at northern latitudes.
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