Photo by K, Irene Stone
by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Photo by K. Irene Stone
10/11/24
Uvalde County residents who looked up into the night sky and took pictures of the sky were treated to a sight typically seen by Americans living in Alaska.
“A large solar coronal mass ejection event resulted in rare aurora sightings in South Texas on Thursday night, October 9th.
A severe geomagnetic storm brought spectacular light displays to many parts of the United States on Thursday night, with skies as far south as San Antonio bathed in rich hues of magenta and green.
The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights as they are commonly known, are often more visible in Earth’s polar regions, but due to heightened solar activity these dancing displays could be seen with the naked eye in numerous southern states,” a NBC News report said.
What is the Aurora?
Source: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/aurora-tutorial
Aurora is the name given to the glow or light produced when electrons from space flow down Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atoms and molecules of the upper atmosphere in a ring or oval centered on the magnetic pole of Earth. The collisions produce light much like how electrons flowing through gas in a neon light collide with neon and other gasses to produce different colored light bulbs.
The Aurora is also called the Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere and Southern Lights in the southern hemisphere. The technical term for the Northern Lights is Aurora Borealis and the Southern lights are called the Aurora Australis. The word Aurora was first used by Galileo and comes from Latin and is the name of the goddess of dawn. The word Borealis comes from the Latin word boreal which means “northern” or “from the north”. The word Australis is Latin for austral, which means “southern.”
What Causes the Aurora?
The aurora is formed from interactions between the solar wind streaming out from the sun and Earth’s protective magnetic field, or magnetosphere. The aurora is one manifestation of geomagnetic activity or geomagnetic storms. As the solar wind increases in speed and the interplanetary magnetic field embedded in the solar wind turns southward, the geomagnetic activity will increase and the aurora will become brighter, more active, and move further from the poles. Even moderate solar wind creates aurora so there is usually a weak aurora somewhere even when there isn’t a big geomagnetic storm.
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