HETANEWS.com – An astronaut named Josh Cassada who is in outer space managed to capture the appearance of the aurora on Earth recently. In the footage circulating on social media, the green aurora looks very beautiful decorating the curved lines of the round Earth.
Aurora is light that is formed due to the interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and the particles emitted by the sun’s bursts. Those charged particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen, which then glow green and red over the Pole.
If the beam is strong, charged particles can travel farther from the Pole to the mid-latitudes, even as far as southern England.
Yes, the aurora does usually appear in areas such as the North or South Pole. This green light can be seen by humans using the naked eye. Aurora comes in a variety of colors, ranging from green, red, blue to white. Aurora will be more visible when we see it in a place with little light pollution.
In fact, the aurora can also be witnessed by people who are in outer space. Hundreds of kilometers above Earth, astronauts also enjoy a rare view of the aurora from a unique vantage point.
This image taken by NASA astronaut Cassada and his colleague Koichi Wasada of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shows a golden-green aurora lighting up the night sky here on Earth.
The aurora seen this time is the result of a G3 class geomagnetic storm from the 25 solar cycle. Auroras do appear in response to the 11 year solar cycle.
Quoted by the BBC, the sun experiences an 11-year cycle, which is measured by how active its magnetic field is. As this magnetic field changes, the amount of activity on the Sun’s surface also changes.
The last minimum activity occurred in 2020. Since then activity on the Sun has increased and it is currently the most active since 2014.
The maximum activity is predicted to take place in 2025. That way, it is likely that the aurora will appear more frequently in the coming years.
