The Northern Lights reach low latitudes: a sight as far as Scotland and England

Huge solar flare triggered scene aurora borealis in some areas of the earth. On October 28, a powerful solar flare unleashed a wave of charged particles that reached Earth last night, just in time for Halloween. Cause a geomagnetic storm G3 class They are in Earth’s upper atmosphere and can make the aurora borealis, which are usually seen around the North Pole, visible at much lower latitudes than usual.

The spectacle of the aurora borealis fascinated northern European watchers, as in Lapland, Iceland, Russia, Scotland, England Northern, but also Canada (See slide gallery image above).

The northern and southern lights occur when charged particles from the solar wind collide with particles in Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing a glow visible from the surface. These particles are directed toward Earth’s poles by the planet’s magnetic field, making them visible naturally from higher latitudes closest to the poles.

During a large solar flare, the sun can release powerful radiation storms and volcanic eruptions known as coronal mass ejections that send far more charged particles to Earth than the regular solar wind. That’s what happened during the October 28 solar flare, which sent a coronal mass toward Earth at 3.5 million kilometers per hour. This wave of particles reached Earth at night between October 30 and 31, making the aurora borealis visible at low latitudes. These conditions are expected to continue through Halloween night as well.