During this week's solar wind event, observers around the Arctic Circle reported auroras of an unusual color. "Crazy pink," says Frank Meissner, who photographed the phenomenon on Oct. 26th from Tromsø, Norway:
"It was awesome," he says. "Flash-like bursts were zooming all over the sky."
Watching from Tromsø on the same night, veteran observer Terence Murtagh says "even with many hundreds of aurora sightings under my belt, I've never witnessed such distinct pink colors clearly visible and bright to the naked eye. They were almost too bright to photograph properly."
The pink color is probably a sign of nitrogen. Most auroras are green--a verdant glow caused by energetic particles from space hitting oxygen atoms 100 km to 300 km above Earth's surface. Seldom-seen pink appears when the energetic particles descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below. More examples may be found in the realtime photo gallery: Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
www.spaceweather.com
Watching from Tromsø on the same night, veteran observer Terence Murtagh says "even with many hundreds of aurora sightings under my belt, I've never witnessed such distinct pink colors clearly visible and bright to the naked eye. They were almost too bright to photograph properly."
The pink color is probably a sign of nitrogen. Most auroras are green--a verdant glow caused by energetic particles from space hitting oxygen atoms 100 km to 300 km above Earth's surface. Seldom-seen pink appears when the energetic particles descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below. More examples may be found in the realtime photo gallery: Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
www.spaceweather.com
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