The Suomi NPP spacecraft captured a unique image of the northern lights using its infrared instrument.
The Suomi NPP satellite, a joint project of NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, captured a unique image of the auroras over Canada in infrared light. To do this, the satellite used the VIIRS instrument, which can detect even the lowest levels of radiation.
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Usually in photographs, aurorae appear as colored streaks of light, but not in this new image. The fact is that the Suomi NPP spacecraft created a unique image of the northern lights in the infrared light range.
Important
VIIRS is sensitive to low radiation levels and uses sources on the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, as well as reflected sunlight from the Moon, to detect visible light at night. In this case, the satellite saw the visible light emitted by the Canadian aurora borealis as it passed through the Earth’s atmosphere. The result was not a color image, but a black and white image.
According to scientists from NASA, most of the auroras visible in Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic regions (northern and southern aurora, respectively) are green in color. You can also see streaks of red, blue, purple and pink light in the sky.
Auroras are clearly visible at night and are caused by geomagnetic storms on Earth when solar particles collide with our planet’s magnetic field. When a coronal mass ejection, or a plasma explosion, occurs on the Sun and reaches Earth, some solar particles rush into the upper atmosphere and collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules. The result is a light known as an aurora.
Scientists had already predicted that a new peak in solar activity would begin in January and last until October. As a result, more plasma bursts will occur on the star, meaning that we should expect aurora borealis to be seen more frequently, not only at very high latitudes, but also at more moderate latitudes.
The Sun continues its 25th cycle of solar activity, which began in 2019 and will last until 2030. Usually, in the middle of the cycle, solar maximum, the peak of solar activity, occurs.
As I already wrote FocusAstronomers have discovered that strange and beautiful auroras occur on planets near dead stars. Unusual auroras similar to those on Earth can be found on planets orbiting a special type of neutron star.
Moreover Focus wrote that astronomers had discovered an aurora in a failing star that should not exist. A complete surprise for astronomers was the discovery of an aurora on a brown dwarf, which had no external source for the occurrence of this phenomenon.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.