The sky over Germany, Austria and Switzerland “burned” on Monday night: a solar storm created colorful northern lights.
Potsdam – Anyone who wants to marvel at the Northern Lights usually travels far north – to Norway, Sweden, Finland or Alaska. Or has to do an extra lap on the plane. On the night of Sunday (September 24th) to Monday (September 25th), people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland were also able to marvel at the northern lights. The sky glowed green, purple, red and yellow. A rare celestial spectacle that, if you’re lucky, can only be seen every eleven years this far south.
Northern lights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: “The sky was on fire”
The formation of the northern lights is no longer a mystery these days, but the lights have lost none of their magic. This spring, people in Germany were even able to observe the Northern Lights as far away as Bavaria. A pinch of luck always plays a role, because the most beautiful northern lights cannot be seen when the sky is cloudy. Above all, the view towards the north must be clear. Now it was that time again: On the night of Monday (September 25th) the northern lights could be seen in parts of Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony.
The natural spectacle could even be observed in Austria, even further south. The sky reportedly turned colorful, especially at higher altitudes. The red lights are particularly rare, weather expert Roger Perret explained to the Austrian medium Today.at. It is obviously a misconception that the lights can only be seen in winter. “September, October, February or March are considered the best months to see the northern lights,” the expert continued.
There have also been sightings in Switzerland. “The sky was literally burning in some parts of the mountains looking north,” said meteorologist Perret to the Swiss medium Blick.ch. The Northern Lights could be seen on Mount Säntis in the northwestern Alps, on the famous Matterhorn and on the Pizol, which is almost 3,000 meters high. Anyone who missed the Northern Lights could get another chance in the coming nights. However, according to meteorologists, the probability is decreasing significantly.
This is how the northern lights are created: the phenomenon is apparently “not entirely unusual” in Germany
Northern lights are caused by high-energy solar wind particles that are thrown into space at high speeds by eruptions on the sun’s surface and hit the earth’s magnetic field, as the German Weather Service (DWD) explains the phenomenon. The Earth’s magnetic field lines actually run towards the north and south poles.
“During strong geomagnetic solar storms, the earth’s magnetic field is deformed in such a way that the ‘normally’ oval-shaped area expands from the pole and so auroras can also become visible further south of the pole and sometimes into mid-latitudes,” the DWD continued. Simply put, the charged particles then cause air molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere to fluoresce.
According to a spokesman for the Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the current increase in sightings of northern lights is not entirely unusual. Approximately every eleven years, in a so-called solar cycle, there are phases of weak and strong solar activity. We are currently approaching a maximum, the next time this is expected is in 2025 (bme with dpa).
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