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An explosion of highly rare pinkish auroras recently light up the night sky above Norway after a solar storm slammed intoEarthand rip a hole in the satellite ’s magnetized field . The breach enabled extremely energetic solar molecule to infiltrate deeper into the atmosphere than normal , triggering the unusual color lights .
The stunning light show was spotted Nov. 3 by a tour grouping lead by Markus Varik , anorthern lightstour guide from theGreenlander tour companybased near Tromsø in Norway . The vivacious auroras emerged at around 6 p.m. local time and live for around 2 minutes , Varik told Live Science in an email .
Extremely rare pink auroras temporarily filled the skies above Norway after a crack in the Earth’s magnetosphere enabled solar wind to penetrate deep into Earth’s atmosphere.
" These were the strong pink auroras I have seen in more than a decade of lead tours , " Varik said . " It was a humbling experience . "
The pink auroras emerge short after a modest crack appeared in the magnetosphere — an invisiblemagnetic fieldsurrounding Earth that is generated by the satellite ’s mobile metal gist . scientist detected the break after a minor G-1 classsolar stormslammed into Earth on Nov. 3 , according toSpaceweather.com .
Related : Do extraterrestrial auroras pass off on other satellite ?
Pink auroras are extremely rare compared to the more common green lights.(Image credit: Markus Varik/Greenlander)
Auroras are formed when streams of extremely up-and-coming charge particles , bang as solar wind , pass around the magnetosphere . The major planet ’s magnetic theatre of operations protect us from cosmic actinotherapy , but the shield is naturally weaker at the North and South Poles , which start the solar breaking wind to skim through the atmosphere — usually between 62 and 186 sea mile ( 100 and 300 klick ) above Earth ’s surface . As solar particles pass through the atmosphere , they superheat gas , which then vibrantly glow in the night sky , agree toNASA .
Auroras most commonly appear greenish , because oxygen corpuscle , which are abundant in the part of the aura that solar wind unremarkably reaches , emit that chromaticity when they are excited . However , during the late solar storm , the pass in Earth ’s magnetosphere enabled the solar wind to get across below 62 Swedish mile , where nitrogen is the most abundant gas , according to Spaceweather.com . As a outcome , the auroras open off a Ne pink incandescence as the supercharged molecule smashed mostly into nitrogen atoms .
The cranny in Earth ’s magnetosphere also helped to bring forth strong green auroras throughout the dark , Varik said .
Pink and green auroras shone in the sky together.(Image credit: Markus Varik/Greenlander)
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The crack in Earth’s magnetosphere also enabled strong green auroras throughout the night.(Image credit: Markus Varik/Greenlander)
The magnetosphere hole closed around 6 hour after it first open . During this time , a strange medallion of blue lighting also emerged in the skies above Sweden , where it hung motionless in the sky for around 30 minutes , according toSpaceweather.com .
However , experts are unsure if this strange phenomenon was some never - before - see character of aurora due to the compromise magnetosphere , or if it was the termination of something else . One expert suggested that the ribbon could have been made up of stock-still fuel from a Russian Eruca vesicaria sativa , but no rockets were pick out in the area , concord to Spaceweather.com .
