BlocksInform
The aurora borealis have always been the most fascinating natural event, and individuals have flown in just for a glimpse of these aurora borealis. As we travel to different parts of this stunning view, the astronauts watched the most exclusive aurora show.
Auroras from space
Josh Cassada, a NASA astronaut, was lucky enough to enjoy the rare aurora sighting from a unique perspective. Astronauts Josh Cassada of NASA and Koichi Wasada of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency aboard the International Space Station captured an image that shows the northern lights shining green simultaneously with the natural golden glow of our planet’s night sky.
Earth’s sky never experiences complete darkness, not even at night, even when you eliminate all the beneficiations from the starlight, diffuse sunlight, and light pollution.
Cassada posted the photo on Twitter with the caption, “Absolutely Unreal.” On the same day, another tweet revealed incredible auroral spatial views:
Wow, awesome view! I caught @Space_Station passing overhead (24 sec in) while making a timelapse of our auroral action pic.twitter.com/pN0GZMdSnO
— Joel Weatherly (@JK_Weatherly) February 28, 2023
Aurora and nightglow
During the night, a soft radiance called nightglow occurs in the sky. This happens when the molecules are broken due to sunlight during the day recombine. Darkness shines all the time in the sky.
Aurora, however, is a more situational occurrence. It happens when particles of the solar wind click the Earth's magnetic field. These winds are then moved and accelerated along the magnetic field lines towards higher latitudes near the northern and southern poles, in which they discharge into the upper atmosphere. Once here, the particles of the solar wind interact with the atmospheric particles; the dancing green lights are the result of these interactions which propagate through the night sky.
The northern lights are now more prevalent here at home and in parts of Canada, in contrast to the days when lights could only be observed in the most northerly parts of the world, including iceland, scandinavia, and greenland.
What is the best month for aurora viewing?
The month of February was pretty exciting, with numerous powerful X and M-class flares—the most powerful flares category emitted by the sun.
Although the current cycle is more vital than the official forecast, the activity of the sun has not exceeded normal, and this is cause for concern.
A geomagnetic storm can be unleashed from a particularly powerful flare. A geomagnetic storm is sufficiently strong to disturb radio and satellite communications and damage electrical networks. There is no possibility of this happening immediately.
