An unusual aurora borealis sparkled in the skies of Kerid in southern Iceland on January 16. This phenomenon was recorded in a video clip by astrophotographer Jeff Dye, showing long green streaks undulating in the sky.
The northern lights usually have a billowing curtain-like appearance. But in this case, the phenomenon appeared in several successive waves.
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The aurora got this form due to large waves moving through the Earth's magnetic field. “Imagine the Earth's magnetic field is like a guitar string,” explained Xingyu Li, an expert at Peking University in China. Thinking about it, the waves are just vibrations in this “string”.
Most commonly, these pulses are only visible to very sensitive magnetic devices, which record them as irregular lines. But in this case, particles streamed through our planet's magnetic field and caused the aurora, illuminating the ripples.
What are the northern lights?
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Auroras occur when energetic particles from the Sun reach Earth and are directed to the poles by our planet's magnetic field. They then interact with atoms and molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light.
Elizabeth MacDonald, a space physicist, highlighted the importance of aurorae in understanding the properties of the upper atmosphere, such as its density and composition. “These in turn tell us about the Earth's magnetic field, how it extends into space and how it changes dynamically,” he concluded.
source: Space climate; via: Space.com website
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