Auroras illuminated the skies over numerous places on Saturday. This was the second time on May 11 that auroras lit up the skies throughout the Earth. A severe solar storm caused this beautiful celestial display, normally limited to the planet’s extreme northern latitudes and known as the “northern lights.”
According to AFP, this intense solar storm might last throughout Sunday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on Sunday, shared a thread on X (formerly Twitter) explaining the phenomenon.
NASA explained the two things that they call solar eruptions—solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
NASA wrote, “There are two things we call solar eruptions: solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). They often occur together, but not always. Solar flares are intense flashes of light resulting from the Sun’s complex magnetic fields abruptly rearranging themselves.”
NASA said that because solar flares are light, they reach Earth in about 8 minutes, while CMEs can take days to reach us. However, when they do they can set the aurora light.
“Solar flares reach us quickly — light only takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth. Because CMEs are made up of particles, they may take days to reach us. But when they do, they can set the aurora alight,” added NASA.
In addition, when these CMEs collide with Earth’s magnetic field, they dump “solar particles into near-earth space.” Now, these particles dive into the earth’s atmosphere in a ring “around the poles, called the auroral oval.”
“When a CME collides with Earth’s magnetic field, it can dump solar particles into near-Earth space. These particles follow Earth’s magnetic field lines as they dive into our atmosphere in a “ring” around the poles called the auroral oval,” NASA wrote.
After these arriving particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, they heat up and begin to glow. NASA explained, “The incoming particles strike gases in our atmosphere, causing them to heat up and glow: the aurora. The colors depend on the type of gas and its altitude. Oxygen glows red or blue; nitrogen can be green, blue, or pink.”
Sharing a glimpse of last night’s northern lights reported in the Bahamas, NASA wrote, “Powerful, repeated eruptions like those we’ve had recently can widen the auroral oval, pushing aurora to lower latitudes. Last night, northern lights were reported as far south as the Bahamas!”
Meanwhile, from northern Europe to Australia’s Tasmania, sky-gazers last night witnessed stunning auroras that painted the skies in pink, green, and purple.