南欧上空的北极光

2023年4月25日

Northern Lights over Southern Europe
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorenzo Cordero

Explanation: Did you see an aurora over the past two nights? Many people who don’t live in Earth’s far north did. Reports of aurora came in not only from northern locales in the USA as Alaska, but as far south as Texas and Arizona. A huge auroral oval extended over Europe and Asia, too. Pictured, an impressively red aurora was captured last night near the town of Cáceres in central Spain. Auroras were also reported in parts of southern Spain. The auroras resulted from a strong Coronal Mass Event (CME) that occurred on the Sun a few days ago. Particles from the CME crossed the inner Solar System before colliding with the Earth’s magnetosphere. From there, electrons and protons spiraled down the Earth’s northern magnetic field lines and collided with oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s atmosphere, causing picturesque auroral glows. Our unusually active Sun may provide future opportunities to see the northern lights in southern skies.

Tomorrow’s picture: lunar triomuphe

南欧上空的北极光
影像提供与版权: Lorenzo Cordero

说明: 在昨晚和前晚，你有看到极光吗？许多并非在地球北极区的人见到了。极光的目睹报告不只来自阿拉斯加的美国北部地区，还来自远在南部的德州和亚利桑那州。在此同时，庞大的极光椭圆也伸展到欧洲和亚洲的上空。上面这幅昨晚摄于西班牙中部的卡塞雷斯镇附近的影像，就记录了该地天空中令人印象深刻的泛红极光。而西班牙南部的部分地区也有极光出没的报导。这些极光，是由几天前发生在太阳上的强烈日冕物质抛射事件（CME）所触发的。来自这例日冕物质抛射的粒子穿过太阳系内围，然后冲撞地球的磁层。从那里，电子和质子沿着北半球的磁场线回旋而下，撞击地球大气中的氧及氮，造成了美丽的极光。我们异常活跃的太阳，未来可能常会为偏南近赤道地区的天空带来北极光。