An unusual aurora borealis shone in the sky over Kerid in southern Iceland on January 16. The phenomenon was recorded in a video by astrophotographer Jeff Dai, which shows long greenish bands waving in the sky.
Normally, the northern lights have a shape that resembles fluttering curtains. But in this case, the phenomenon appeared with several waves in a row.
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The aurora got this shape due to large waves moving through the Earth’s magnetic field. “Imagine that the Earth’s magnetic field is like a guitar string,” explained Xing-Yu Li, an expert at Peking University in China. Thinking about it, waves are simply vibrations in this “string”.
Most commonly, these pulses are only visible to highly sensitive magnetic instruments, which register them as irregular lines. But in this case, the particles flowed through our planet’s magnetic field and caused the aurora, lighting up the ripple.
What is the Northern Lights?
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The aurora borealis occur when energetic particles coming from the Sun reach Earth and are directed to the poles by our planet’s magnetic field. They then interact with atoms and molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light.
Elizabeth MacDonald, space physicist, highlighted the importance of auroras for understanding characteristics of the upper atmosphere, such as its density and composition. “These, in turn, tell us about the Earth’s magnetic field, how it extends into space and how it changes dynamically,” she concluded.
Source: SpaceWeather; Via: Space.com
2024-02-01 09:00:00
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