Strong winds and sunshine have been blowing from the sun these days, making the sky hot and auroras as far south as London, and forecasters predict more such disasters, while which is scheduled to arrive in the future on Monday, February 27. .
It’s amazing aurora borealis The show was reported on the night from Sunday (February 26) to Monday, from all over the UK, even from as far south as the rest area. The Stonehenge monument (opens in a new tab) in Wiltshire.
Astounded sky watchers shared their photos on Twitter, with reports of aurora sightings from Scotland, northern Wales, Ireland and southern England.
A Northern Irish photographer Evan Boyce found a memorable night of the aurora, which, despite being the first of string lights, produced interesting results.
“I started taking a camera during the COVID lockdown and have wanted to capture the aurora ever since,” Boyce told Space.com in an email. “It’s very difficult to live in Northern Ireland, given how far south we are compared to where the aurora can be seen.”
Related: Where to see the northern lights: 2023 aurora borealis guide
He added that all his previous efforts to find Aurora were ruined by an accident. On Sunday night, Boyce drove to the beach between the towns of Bangor and Donaghadee, a short drive from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. There he caught an ominous green and red light on top of a historic building with a starry sky behind.
“I can’t believe how lucky I am,” Boyce said. “Judging by the reactions of some local photographers, the intensity & colors last night were nothing short of amazing.”
Stuart Atkinson, who lives in the famous Lake District resort in north-west England, is an even better astronomer than Boyce. A contributor to Space.com’s sister magazine All About Space, Atkinson managed to capture a series of inner red auroras after what he described as a “frustrating aurora hunt” marred by weather.
“I took the pictures last night from a place called Shap, maybe one of the biggest places in my area and the farthest north of where I live to give me a better view than I would have at home,” he said. Atkinson. Space.com “Last night’s conditions were not good at first, almost all clouds, but after an hour or so a big gap appeared and I managed to get a few pictures. I’m happy with how they turned out.”
He added that, however, the natural colors seen in the sky are much more distorted compared to the images he produced.
“Long exposures, sensitive sensors and high ISO all enhance colors,” Atkinson says. “In my sight, the Aurora was a gray color below, and a pale pink color above.”
Also, eyewitness reports came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In addition to the usual photo spots in Canada and Alaska, some smaller sightings have been reported from Ohio and New York state.
Northern Lights over Stonehenge last night 😲😍❤️💚💙💛 📷 credit by Stonehenge Drone scapes on FB #Aurora #auroraborealisFebruary 27, 2023
According to the UK Met Office (opens in a new tab), the spectacle is the result of two solar physics events that happened at the same time. There is currently a so-called coronal hole that has opened up in the sun’s magnetic field, from which the solar wind streams out more than usual. Additionally, a coronal mass ejection (CME), a powerful burst of solar plasma from an active region, or sunspot, rose from the sun on Friday, February 24, and arrived last night.
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles that constantly flow from the sun’s surface to the surrounding atmosphere. These particles interact with particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating the aurora display. When the solar wind is low, auroras may only be visible above the polar circle where the Earth’s magnetic field penetrates deep into the Earth’s atmosphere. CMEs and solar wind outflows from coronal holes, however, can cause aurora displays away from the poles.
The colors seen in the aurora display are caused by special reactions between particles in the solar wind and chemical compounds in the air.
“Different gases emit different colors,” Affelia Wibisono, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, told Space.com in an email. “Oxygen glows green, and nitrogen emits blue and purple. If the incoming elements are particularly energetic, then high oxygen can give a deep red color and nitrogen can glow pink.”
Aurora chasers are on standby for tonight as another, even stronger CME is set to arrive today. The Met Office is predicting a strong G3 geomagnetic storm, which should produce more spectacular aurora displays, but could also cause minor problems for satellite operators and power grids in northern latitudes.
Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us of Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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