A Spectacular Lightshow In The Sky -Aurora Observed In Ladakh & US, UK, New Zealand And Australia

Hello, Everyone!

Auroras are considered spectacular light shows in the night sky with the diverse vibrant hues of blue, red, yellow, green, and, orange. These are usually cited in the polar regions. The auroras at the north poles are called Aurora Borealis and at the south poles are called Aurora Australis.

On the 11th of May,2024 the northern lights or aurora borealis were cited in the Hanle village of the Ladakh region in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Pic Source: Native Planet

Pic Url: https://www.nativeplanet.com/news/mesmerizing-aurora-lights-illuminate-hanle-enjoy-geomagnetic-storm-in-ladakh-india-012095.html

These magical dancing lights-auroras were observed in various diverse locations worldwide, such as the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

Let us now understand what are auroras and what causes Aurora to appear in the night sky.

ABOUT AURORAS:

Auroras are considered spectacular light shows in the night sky with the diverse vibrant hues of blue, red, yellow, green, and, orange. These are usually cited in the polar regions. The auroras at the north poles are called Aurora Borealis and at the south poles are called Aurora Australis. In a few instances, we can also see the auroras in the mid-latitudinal regions as well for instance, North -America, some parts of Europe, and parts of Asia.

Let us now understand the reason behind the occurrence of these magical auroras.

UNVEILING AURORAS:

These celestial spectacles occur due to the sun's activity. Our Sun releases a stream of charged particles at every instance of time (electrons and protons) and the magnetic fields, which form a solar wind.

When this solar wind interacts with our Earth, our Earth's magnetic field deflects that solar wind and thereby shields us from the harmful effects of it. However, in some instances, some of these charged particles get trapped by our Earth's magnetic field and travel down following the magnetic field lines towards the north and south poles.

Here, the charged particles interact with the atmospheric gases in the polar regions and henceforth we see a hued illuminance in the night sky. Collisions with oxygen create a green-hued light, with nitrogen blue and purple hues observed.

MAGICAL AURORAS EXTENDING TO MID-LATITUDES:

The auroras usually are cited in polar regions. However, they might extend to the mid-latitudnal regions owing to the increased activity in the sun's atmosphere leading to solar flares and the coronal mass ejections.

{Solar Flares: These are explosions of EM radiation on the sun's surface. It is due to the accumulation of magnetic energy in the Sun's environment that is quickly released into the cosmos at a large scale.

Coronal Mass Ejections : These are eruptions of the Sun's magnetic field along with hot plasma at the Sun's Coronal region of its mysterious environment. It consists of protons and electrons. The potent magnetic field is entailed within the ejected plasma. These are associated with solar flares of high intensity, it might be possible that the extremely large magnetic fields in the high-class solar flares might trigger the Coronal Mass Ejections. Also, the magnetic instability or sudden change in the magnetic field may lead to these ejections. Reconnection of twisted magnetic field lines might initiate such a massive explosion. We can refer to CME as the explosion of energy in the solar wind.}

These potent CMS can overpower our Earth's magnetic field stimulating geomagnetic storms {temporary disturbances}and extending auroras further to the northern and southern regions.

The recent occurrence of auroras is an ideal example of a geomagnetic storm triggered by CME, causing the auroras to be seen at unexpected locations.

Regardless of the magical beauty of spectacular auroras, geomagnetic storms can warp human activities by disrupting GPS systems, radio and satellite communications, flight operations, power grids as well as space operation programs.

Thank You.

References:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/northern-southern-lights-aurora-9322408/