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Stable Auroral Red Arc

All articles tagged with #stable auroral red arc

science-and-nature2 years ago•2 min saved

"Virginia Photographers Capture Enigmatic Night Sky Phenomenon: Unraveling the Mystery"

Photographers in Virginia captured a rare phenomenon in the night sky, but it wasn't the aurora borealis. Instead, they witnessed a stable auroral red (SAR) arc, which occurs when light from oxygen molecules is heated by an electric current around Earth. The SAR coincided with a strong geomagnetic storm, and photographers were able to capture it using long exposure settings and reducing light pollution. The aurora borealis, on the other hand, forms when a solar storm interacts with Earth's magnetic field, creating a dance of different colors.

via WSLS 10|

#aurora #geomagnetic-storm #photography

science3 years ago•2 min saved

Mysterious Blood-Red Arc Appears in Scandinavian Sky.

A rare stable auroral red arc (SAR) appeared in the sky above Denmark on March 23, caused by oxygen molecules in the upper atmosphere becoming superheated by Earth's ring current system during a powerful geomagnetic storm triggered by a coronal mass ejection from the sun. SARs occur frequently but are normally invisible to humans, and only become visible when strong solar storms weaken the magnetosphere. The SAR coincided with the most powerful geomagnetic storm to hit Earth for six years and was not the only unusual light show observed during the recent solar storm, with the aurora-like phenomenon STEVE also visible across the United States and parts of the United Kingdom.

via Livescience.com|

#oxygen-molecules #sar #scandinavia