Spectacular lights in red and pink tones could be admired throughout Austria on Sunday evening. The rare natural spectacle is thanks to a geomagnetic storm that hit Earth.
The cause of the spectacle was three solar winds with a speed of 300 to 500 kilometers per second, wrote Christian Möstl, head of the space weather office of Geosphere Austria in Graz on Platform X.
“Great timing”
The storms were expected, Möstl said. The timing is “pretty good” to see the Northern Lights. As the night progresses, these can become even more visible.
Can be seen throughout Austria
Several webcams on the Austrian mountains captured the spectacular images, but the Northern Lights could also be seen in the Waldviertel and in the middle of Vienna.
Auroras are created when a solar storm hits Earth’s magnetic field, causing a geomagnetic storm. Electrically charged particles from the solar wind collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in Earth’s atmosphere, positively charging them.
Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, are usually seen in areas further north, such as Finland or Norway. The well-known green lights originate at an altitude of 100 to 200 km, in the red area, as they were now seen in Austria, at an altitude of over 200 km.
Red sky over Ukraine
The Northern Lights could also be admired in other countries, such as Ireland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Numerous social media users posted photos of the spectacular natural spectacle.
Source: Krone
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