"Aurora Borealis Dazzles Portugal: Rare Sightings Light Up the Skies in August 2024"

The aurora borealis reappeared in the skies of Portugal, first in the early hours of August 12 and, hours later, they returned the same day at night. Brighter than the northern lights can be seen in Portugal On the night of May 10 to 11 this year, which led to the sharing of several reports and photos on social media, the phenomenon was recorded again in the country. Astronomer Miguel Marques was in the right place at the right time to immortalize the moment: first in Pampilhosa da Serra, then in Serra da Estrela.

Miguel Marques had gone to take a picture of the shower of stars that every year gives us at this time of the year, the Perseidsin an initiative with Geoscope – Fajão Astronomical Observatory, a small town in the town of Pampilhosa da Serra. On the night of August 11 to 12 (Sunday to Monday), astronomer José Augusto Matos led a tour of the sky under the Perseids. Miguel Marques, who has been doing astrophotography work for the Aldeias de Xisto network, a project that includes Geoscope, stayed with his girlfriend during the night when the trip came through the skies to end.

“I was taking pictures all night, when, at 4:20 in the morning, we realized that there was a different light in the sky. When we pointed the camera at that flash, we immediately saw that it was an aurora borealis”, Miguel Marques tells PÚBLICO – the astronomer and his girlfriend make the site Marques Picturesexhibition for his photographic work. “There were predictions that auroras could be seen at low latitudes. We were already aware of this. “

Until morning, Miguel Marques continued to photograph the auroras on the mountain near Pampilhosa da Serra, an area with dark skies, without light pollution. At night, now from 12 to 13 August, forecasts continued to indicate that the aurora borealis could be seen at low latitudes, such as those where Portugal is located. “We went to Serra da Estrela, because the coast was completely cloudy. We wanted to go to the highest point in the country, to escape from the clouds”, says Miguel Marques.

On that second night of northern lights in Portugal – something that is very rare in the latitude of Portugal, because the country is very far from the regions of the North Pole, where the auroras ‘ reached their peak energy -, Maria and Miguel Marques were still getting on. record them. “I started taking pictures of them around 10:20 pm. They were less intense [do que na madrugada anterior]but it was still possible to photograph them”, said the astronomer. “In Serra da Estrela, the aurora borealis was not visible to the naked eye – it was only visible on the camera. The camera will ‘ catch more light than we can see.’

As far as Miguel Marques knows, elsewhere in the country he only has the information that, in Alentejo, the astronomer Miguel Claro managed to record the northern lights in August. “I don’t know anyone else who took pictures,” said Miguel Marques, who started taking astrophotography as a career in 2019. “I’ve always loved photography and the stars. I started as a recreation taking pictures at night.”

With the creation of the Aldeias do Xisto Dark Sky Reserve, Miguel Marques was hired to create a catalog and more work appeared, especially in the town of Pampilhosa da Serra. “And the recreation beyond the profession 100%.” Your camera had already recorded May dance – “it was more intense”.

May’s intense auroras

In May, the sky was filled with pink tones. The Northern Lights have not been seen in Portugal for many decades: there are records in February 1872, January 1938 and January 1957, for example. AN The Philosophy of May then toasted several other countries.

“The atmosphere is loaded with solar particles, with the Sun very active in this solar cycle – perhaps this year, or in 2025, will be visible to the naked eye more clearly”, wrote Miguel Marques on his Facebook page, while sharing the photos we also published here of the auroras in Pampilhosa da Serra and Serra da Estrela.

This year the Sun reaches its peak activity in the 22-year solar cycle, which means more intense solar flares, ejecting ionized gases at high temperatures from the solar corona, the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere gases, which are part of the solar wind, reach the Earth’s magnetic field, they can disturb it. Therefore, they can cause geomagnetic storms, causing northern lights more intense and in low latitude areas around the planet. Who knows if the auroras will return to Portugal soon.