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A powerful solar storm slammed into Earth on Sept. 18 and 19, triggering stunning aurora shows around the world.
Aurora enthusiasts can thank a massive solar tendril, called a solar filament, for the stunning light show. On Saturday (Sept. 16), it emerged from the sun and ejected a super-hot plasma eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), toward Earth. The CME caused a disturbance in Earth's magnetic field, resulting in a geomagnetic storm that triggered auroras visible as far south as Colorado (+40.4N), Missouri (+40.3N) and Nebraska (+41N), according to Spaceweather.com.
During a solar storm, energized particles from the sun slam into Earth's atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph) and our planet's magnetic field then funnels the particles toward the poles. The supercharging of molecules in Earth's atmosphere triggers the colorful spectacles, which usually remain limited to areas near the poles at high latitudes for the aurora borealis (northern lights) and low latitudes for the aurora australis (southern lights).
Kairo Kiitsak, meteorologist and hobby nature photographer captured these stunning aurora images from eastern Estonia, close to Liigvalla and Räitsvere.
"The northern lights amazed us with a really stunning display", Kiitsak told
"The colors of aurora were really vivid this time, It doesn't happen very often that you get to see all the colors," Kiitsak continued.
Kiitsak has been observing and photographing the northern lights for nine years and took his first photo in 2014.
"I never get tired of watching them." Kiitsak continued.
"Each display is special and eye-catching in its own way. We are currently moving towards the maximum of solar activity, exciting times are still ahead for the northern lights observers."
You can see more of Kiitsak's mesmerizing aurora photographs on Twitter and Facebook.
Launch photographer for NASASpaceFlight.com, Nathan Barker, shifted his attention from rocket launches to the northern lights and took some incredible photographs over southern Ontario, Canada.
Jo Majko, photographer and stormchaser caught the aurora outburst between 9:00 and 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 18, at Fox Creek, Alberta, Canada.
"I normally see them here in a brighter shade of green and was surprised when they appeared in the shade of green it had a slightly bluish tinge to it," Majko told Space.com in an email. "The violet highlights were quite striking as well and it was also a shade of violet I'm not accustomed to seeing in the auroras out here because it's usually highlighted with more red than anything."
We can expect more extreme space weather events like this powerful geomagnetic storm as the sun builds towards a peak in its 11-year solar activity cycle, expected to occur in 2025.
Edited by : www.linkedin.com/in/ashwin-balaji-
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