The Indian Institute of Astrophysics released the photos captured by the cameras installed on the Saraswati mountain at an altitude of 4,500 meters. Timelapse video of the night sky in Changthang, Ladakh. “The aurora reached lower than normal latitudes during the night. This led to rare sightings from Europe, China and Ladakh in India,” said Vageesh Mishra, assistant professor of IIAP.
‘The last time such a severe geomagnetic storm occurred was in 2015.’ He said.
Eruptions of color occur during CMEs around the world. Aurora reaches low latitudes in France, Germany in Europe, islands in North America, United States of America, Colorado, New Mexico. Auroras are a relatively rare occurrence outside the auroral zones, but are located between 65 and 75 degrees latitude in both hemispheres. Space weather anomalies such as increased solar activity appear closer to the equator.
Last month’s geomagnetic storm was classified as level 4. This scenario is possible in Ladakh due to space weather developments. IIAP is analyzing the Standard Aurora Red (SAR) detected by Hanle Observatory in Ladakh in April. ‘Ark was visible on the northern horizon in the early morning of April 24.. It was there for a long time. But, unfortunately no one was out of the observatory at that time… so could not see it directly… It was recorded only on the 360-degree sky camera which is always on at the observatory,” said IIAP sources.
‘Auroras are usually confined to places close to the poles… because charged particles from the Sun cross the geomagnetic sphere and interact with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to create the light show… However, during very strong coronal mass ejection events, material from the Sun penetrates the magnetosphere and forms auroras in places like Ladakh. Dipankar Bhattacharya, director of Aryabhatta Research Institute said.
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