Credit: All- sky electronic camera, Kiruna Atmospheric and Geophysical Observatory (KAGO) within the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF). Data offered as part of ESA’s Space Weather Service Network
After the Sun ejected a violent mass of fast-moving plasma into area on October 9, 2021, ESA waited on the storm to strike. A couple of days later on, the coronal mass ejection (CME) reached Earth, crashing into our world’s magnetosphere, and illuminating the sky.
CMEs take off from the Sun, rush through the Solar System and while doing so accelerate the solar wind– a stream of charged particles constantly launched from the Sun’s upper environment.
While the majority of the solar wind is obstructed by Earth’s protective magnetosphere, some charged particles end up being caught in Earth’s electromagnetic field and stream down to the geomagnetic poles, hitting the upper environment to develop the lovely Aurora.
A marbled sky
This sensational video was developed from images taken every minute throughout this current duration of extreme auroral activity in the early hours of October 12, by an all-sky electronic camera in Kiruna, Sweden– part of ESA’s Space Weather ServiceNetwork The objective of such video cameras is to consider as much as the sky as possible, so they are fitted with a ‘fish-eye’ lens to see horizon to horizon when pointed directly.
The video, running in half-speed to emphasize the lovely auroral movement, begins with a mass of green, swirling structures, developed when energetic particles in the solar wind hit oxygen in Earth’s environment, which then, ‘excited’ produces light in the green series of the electro-magnetic spectrum. This normally happens at around 120– 180 kilometres from Earth’s surface area.
As we people have actually developed to be extremely skilled at seeing various tones of green, it’s the most primary colour we see. Harder to see is the purple aurora seen later on in the video, this time developed as energetic particles strike ‘ionic’ nitrogen in Earth’s environment.
Not simply lovely, such observations are crucial to comprehending the complex, and often harmful interactions in between the Sun and Earth.
“What I love about this video is the chance to see this beautiful, purple aurora, more clearly visible during intense geomagnetic storms” discusses Hannah Laurens, RHEA Space Weather Applications Scientist based at ESOC.
“The movement of this swirly structure in space and time is often referred to as auroral dynamics, and this is very important when studying the relationship between the ionosphere and magnetosphere, linked by lines of magnetic field. The aurora is a manifestation of complex drivers operating in the distant magnetosphere which makes it a useful, and beautiful, tool with which to monitor space weather conditions”
A lovely side of something more unpleasant
The all-sky auroral electronic camera is run by the Kiruna Atmospheric and Geophysical Observatory (KAGO) within the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), and information from here is offered as part of the ESA’s network of area weather condition services within the Agency’s Space Safety Programme.
This is the very first auroral screen recorded by the instrument following its combination into the ESA Space Weather Portal, which supplies prompt info to anybody impacted by the Sun’s outbursts– from airline company pilots, to operators of spacecraft and power grids, and even enthusiastic aurora hunters.
While people on Earth are safeguarded by Earth’s electromagnetic field, Space Weather can have a severe and disruptive effect on satellites in orbit and facilities on Earth, and eventually our society. For this factor, ESA’s Space Weather Service Network continues to monitor our star and the conditions around Earth, to supply info to keep our systems safe.
In 2027, ESA will introduce a first-of-its kind objective to keep an eye on the Sun from a special perspective. Studying our star from the side, it will supply a stream of information that will caution of possibly harmful areas prior to they roll into view from Earth.
