Over the past few days, you may have seen images of the aurora being shared on social media. The sudden increase in auroras was caused by a large hole in the Sun’s corona that resulted in a powerful geomagnetic storm over Earth. As a result, millions of people in the United States witnessed the magnificent Aurora Borealis triggered by this incident, acting as a catalyst. Even NASA’s Astronomical Picture of the Day on March 27 is dedicated to a mesmerizing view of the Northern Lights over the North Pole.
The image is positioned at the peaks of the iconic Arctic Henge in Raufarhofn in northern Iceland and it shows a sky full of auroras aligned with many other stars. It says, “Some are lined up pointing exactly north from one side and facing exactly south from the other.”
The striking image was taken after sunset late last month. NASA explains while sharing the photo that, “it looks directly south, but because the composite image covers so much of the sky, the polar star Polaris can actually be seen at the top of the frame.” You can also see some familiar constellations including the Great Bear (Ursa Major) on the left and the Hunter (Orion) on the lower right.
“The mission was a success. The sky lit up amazingly with bright and memorable aurora borealis, shimmering with amazing colors including reds, pinks, yellows and greens – sometimes multiple aurora at the same time,” NASA added.
How do auroras form?
Auroras are formed by streams of charged particles trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field emitted by the Sun. NASA explains that when a Sun storm go in the direction of Earth, some energy and small particles move along magnetic field lines at the north and south poles into Earth’s atmosphere. As a result, when charged particles from the sun collide with the planet’s magnetic field, geomagnetic storms occur.
These particles are focused above the poles by Earth’s magnetic field lines, which is why we observe auroras in these regions. Auroras occurring at the north pole of the Earth are often referred to as the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Borealis, similarly, the aurora in Antarctica are known as the aurora borealis or aurora Australis.
