Aurora Lights Found Beyond Arctics [UPSC Current Affairs]

Aurora borealis, which is normally seen in artics, was recently observed beyond artics reaching deep into the midlatitudes. But this is not totally unseen and sometimes in the past we have observed this event going beyond the arctic.

In this article, you can read all about the explanation why Aurora lights are found beyond arctics, an important topic for the  IAS exam.

Aurora borealis:

• When the strong streams of particles emitted by the Sun interact with earth’s upper atmosphere, it causes the thin gasses present there to glow. This glow or light is termed as Aurora. Earth’s magnetic field directs the particles towards the polar regions and hence this glow is much often observed in the arctic and antarctic.
• In the northern display it is known as Aurora Borealis and in the south, it is called Aurora Australis.

Read more on Aurora Borealis.

Reason for Aurora borealis reaching into midlatitudes:

• Solar activity has been found to be cyclical (waxing and waning) with a period of 11 years.
• Right now we are coming out of a phase known as solar minimum, where the sunspots are often absent and now are moving into a phase where we will observe an increase in solar activity. A more active sun tends to eject more of these strong streams of particles, and hence this tends to give a stronger display of auroras.
• But the real reason for the present spurt in the northern lights is an event called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). CME is a significant ejection of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. CME can occur any time, but the present CME is so strong that the aurora display is visible from England and beyond.

Additional Information:

• Solar Spots are spots or regions on the sun that appear from time to time and are considered as precursors in solar flares, which is an intense outburst of energy and particles from the surface of the Sun.

Aurora Lights Found Beyond Arctics [UPSC Notes]:- Download PDF Here