A resplendent multicolored dance appeared on Thursday night and even reached places where the phenomenon is not common. As a consequence of a geomagnetic storm, announced during the week by different meteorological services, the northern lights could be seen at regularly unusual latitudes. Soon the images of the lights began to travel through social networks, allowing the whole world to enjoy the green, yellow, orange and red tones.
Sweden took advantage of the phenomenon to study it. In addition to halos of light from the auroras, the skies over the city of Kiruna, in the Scandinavian country, were covered with probes made of materials similar to those of fireworks at an altitude of between 100 and 200 kilometers. The calving resulted in luminous white and green clouds that progressively eclipsed the “natural” northern lights on the horizon.
The aim of the researchers at the Swedish Institute for Space Physics in charge of the experiment is to improve weather forecasts for near space, also called the upper atmosphere, to better protect satellites and other telecommunications infrastructure essential for contemporary life. “Today, no one can imagine themselves without GPS, without television, without satellite cable or without a smartphone. But to guarantee access to all that, we have to better understand space weather, ”Tima Sergienko, who was responsible for the experiment, told Afp.
To better understand the effects, derived from the strong ionic activities that cause the northern lights, the researchers threw barium into aluminum cylinders, ensuring that the population was not at risk. Although the initiative is not a novelty, since several similar experiments have been carried out in the past decades, the technological advance of instruments such as cameras now allows more detailed information on these phenomena to be obtained.
To observe an aurora borealis, four factors need to converge. The main one is geomagnetic activity, which is produced by the activity of the star and the coronal sun holes that increase or decrease over time. Its level is measured by means of the planetary index K, or Kp, going from zero to 9. The higher the number, the greater the possibility of appreciating the phenomenon from points near the equator.
The northern or austral lights also depend on a location close to the magnetic poles, as well as a certain level of darkness. Light halo activity is also more common at midnight, as a consequence of increased geomagnetism levels. These characteristics mean that the best season to appreciate the phenomenon is the spring and autumn equinoxes, due to the way in which the solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetosphere.
In the United States, the states of Virginia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin; and in Canada, even cities, where it is rare to appreciate them, such as Calgary and Toronto; the natural spectacle could be enjoyed during Thursday night and Friday morning.
(With information from Afp)
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