Richard Monda, an assistant professor in the Biology, Chemistry and Physics Department, captured a stunning image of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) display visible across the Capital Region the weekend of May 10 through 12. The photo was taken on Friday, May 11 at about 11:30 p.m. just outside Scotia.
Monda notes:
This two-second photographic exposure shows “pillar” type aurora with an intense, saturated red color. Visually, the movement of the auroral lights could be seen, but there was only a hint of red color. The sky was mostly cloudy with a break in the clouds near the zenith of the sky, around the handle of the Big Dipper, and the opening in the clouds did not last long.
The red color is due to charged particles outflowing from the sun (protons and electrons), the solar wind, interacting with oxygen atoms at high altitudes of 180 to 250 miles in Earth’s atmosphere.
Auroral activity usually happens between 50-60 miles above the Earth so red aurorae are less frequent and usually are associated with strong solar activity. The likelihood of northern light displays is possible because the sun is at solar maximum. An immense sunspot group (#3664, estimated to be over 15 times the size of Earth) on the surface of the sun did eject an intense burst of charged particles into the solar system last week. This kind of solar event is called a coronal mass ejection (CME). When these charged particles interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, the result can produce an aurora borealis display.
