A week of colourful skies

[Juliet_]

The most powerful solar storm in more than two decades was responsible for spectacular celestial light shows in skies from Tasmania to Britain — and threatening possible disruptions to satellites and power grids

Extraordinary colour displays lit up the sky across the world on 13 May, stunning everyone who managed to catch a glimpse of the rare but spectacular show.
The aurora borealis and aurora australis, also known as the northern and southern lights, are more commonly seen on a much smaller scale

 

[Mrbean]

Not beautiful than your eyes.

 

[Anshhi]

The most powerful solar storm in more than two decades was responsible for spectacular celestial light shows in skies from Tasmania to Britain — and threatening possible disruptions to satellites and power grids

Extraordinary colour displays lit up the sky across the world on 13 May, stunning everyone who managed to catch a glimpse of the rare but spectacular show.
The aurora borealis and aurora australis, also known as the northern and southern lights, are more commonly seen on a much smaller scale

View attachment 235805

I want to witness such a scene once..

 

[Deepak Kiran]

From northern Europe to Australia's Tasmania, the sky-gazers last night witnessed stunning auroras that painted the skies in pink, green, and purple hues.​

Auroras illuminated the skies across many regions on Saturday. This was the second time in a row on May 11 that auroras lit up the skies across swaths of the planet.

This spectacular celestial show, which is usually confined to the far northern reaches of the planet and is called "northern lights”, is triggered by a powerful solar storm.

A report by news agency AFP stated that this powerful solar storm could also continue on Sunday.

Why do we get auroras?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on Sunday, shared a thread on X (formerly Twitter) explaining the phenomenon.


NASA explained the two things that they call solar eruptions—solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

NASA wrote, “There are two things we call solar eruptions: solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). They often occur together, but not always. Solar flares are intense flashes of light — a result of the Sun's complex magnetic fields abruptly rearranging themselves.”

There are two things we call solar eruptions: solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). They often occur together, but not always.Solar flares are intense flashes of light — a result of the Sun’s complex magnetic fields abruptly rearranging themselves.

NASA said that because solar flares are light, they reach Earth in about 8 minutes, while CMEs can take days to reach us. However, when they do they can set the aurora light.

“Solar flares reach us quickly — light only takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth. Because CMEs are made up of particles, they may take days to reach us. But when they do, they can set the aurora alight,” added NASA

 

[yours4infinity]