Red Aurora over Poland

Red Aurora over Poland

Image Credit & Copyright:
Mariusz Durlej

Explanation:
Northern lights don’t usually reach this far south.

Magnetic chaos in the Sun’s
huge Active Region 3664, however, produced a surface explosion that sent a
burst of
electrons, protons, and more massive, charged nuclei into the
Solar System.

A few days later, that
coronal mass ejection (CME) impacted the Earth and
triggered auroras that are being reported
unusually far from our planet’s
north and south poles.

The free sky show
might not be over —
the sunspot rich AR3664 has ejected even more
CMEs that might also impact the
Earth tonight or tomorrow.

That active region is now
near the Sun’s edge, though,
and will soon be rotating away from the
Earth.

Pictured, a
red and
rayed aurora
was captured in a single 6-second exposure from
Racibórz,
Poland
early last night.

The photographer’s friend, seeing an aurora for the first time, is visible in the
distance also taking images of the
beautifully colorful
nighttime sky.