Amateur Photographers Have Discovered a New Form of the Northern Lights

[Judi Lynn]

By UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI JANUARY 28, 2020



The auroral dunes appear as a green-tinged and even pattern of waves resembling a striped veil of clouds or dunes on a sandy beach. Credit: Kari Saari

Working together with space researchers, Finnish amateur photographers have discovered a new auroral form. Named ‘dunes’ by the hobbyists, the phenomenon is believed to be caused by waves of oxygen atoms glowing due to a stream of particles released from the Sun.

In the recently published study, the origins of the dunes were tracked to a wave guide formed within the mesosphere and its boundary, the mesopause. The study also posits that this new auroral form provides researchers with a novel way to investigate conditions in the upper atmosphere.

The study was published in the first issue of the high-impact journal AGU Advances.

An unknown fingerprint appears in the sky
Minna Palmroth, Professor of Computational Space Physics at the University of Helsinki, heads a research group developing the world’s most accurate simulation of the near-Earth space and space weather that cause auroral emissions.

The sun releases a steady flow of charged particles, known as the solar wind. Reaching the Earth’s ionized upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, they create auroral emissions by exciting atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The excitation state is released as auroral light.

More:
https://scitechdaily.com/amateur-photographers-have-discovered-a-new-form-of-the-northern-lights/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Fascinating!

There's a video in the link that was mesmerizing.

Thanks for posting!

[Judi Lynn]

3. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything like that. Thanks for your comment.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Amateur stargazers capture new form of northern lights

Nicola Davis 5 hrs ago

A new form of the northern lights has been captured by amateur enthusiasts, researchers have revealed.



© Lucas Jackson/REUTERS The Northern Lights are seen above the ash plume of a volcano in Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland, April 22, 2010. Picture taken April 22, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo


The phenomenon of glowing green lights rippling across the night sky, also known as the aurora borealis, have long captivated the public and experts alike.

Some have suggested the lights are depicted in prehistoric cave paintings, while the Latin term is said to have been coined by the astronomer Galileo Galilei.

Auroras are produced when charged particles, such as electrons, are ejected by the sun and funnelled towards the Earth’s poles by our planet’s magnetic field. There they interact with gases in the atmosphere, including oxygen and nitrogen, increasing the energy of these gases – energy which is subsequently released as light.

“This is the same as neon lamps,” said Minna Palmroth, a professor of computational space physics at the University of Helsinki. “Basically we can say the auroras are celestial neon lamps.”

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/amateur-stargazers-capture-new-form-of-northern-lights/ar-BBZqoQh?li=BBnbfcL

[AllaN01Bear]

5. science is cool

[OxQQme]

4. Halo

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