The skies over northern Sweden were covered in halos of artificial light this Thursday (23), after the launch of a probe that released materials into the atmosphere to better understand the aurora borealis.
To unlock the secrets of this natural phenomenon, researchers from the Institute of Space Physics in Sweden launched a probe near the city of Kiruna, which released materials similar to those from fireworks at an altitude of 100 to 200 km.
This venture caused luminous white and green clouds in the sky that progressively eclipsed the “real” aurora borealis that glowed on the horizon.
This experiment aims to improve weather forecasts for near space, also called the upper atmosphere, allowing for better protection of satellites and other essential telecommunications infrastructure.
“Today, no one can imagine without GPS, without television, without satellite cable or without smartphone. But to ensure access to all of this, we need to better understand space weather,” Tima Sergienko, head of the experiment, told AFP.
“All these things can be destroyed during strong ionic activities” caused by the aurora borealis, he added.
To reproduce this effect, the researchers poured barium into aluminum cylinders, which they guaranteed did not represent a danger to the population.
Similar experiments have been carried out around the world in recent decades, but the cameras and technology are now more developed, Sergienko noted.
According to him, researchers can obtain “much more information thanks to this type of experiments and optical measurements”.
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