The northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, are a natural light show in the Earth’s sky primarily visible at high latitudes. It is fascinating to watch because of its vibrant colours that glow graciously.
But every so often, a magical moment occurs that only a select few people are able to record on camera: an aurora erupting brightly in the sky.
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Photographer captures the brightest aurora lights
Vincent Ledvina, an aurora chaser, recently had an amazing experience. He had posted a time-lapse video of an aurora explosion in Alaska in August of last year. Over 1.9 million people liked the video of flashing bright green lights in the sky.
He wrote the following about the encounter on TikTok: “I just recorded this an hour ago. Still in awe of how intelligent they became.” Ledvina is a PhD student in space physics at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks right now. His Instagram profile is packed with videos and images of auroras that he has taken in various locations around the globe.
After the viral video, a woman questioned, “Its my dream to see an Aurora with my own eyes someday… BTW one question, do these Auroras appear as bright as they seem in the videos or somewhat like the stars where you can only see them if there’s no light pollution?”
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Another added, “Wordless. I was lucky enough to see her during my trip in Iceland and now every time I look up during the night I look for her.” A man commented, “It must be an incredible Event for all senses..nature is a wounder..thank you..”
What are Aurora lights?
In the night sky, auroras produce a dynamic display of brilliant lights that resemble rays, spirals, or curtains. They happen as a result of solar wind-induced magnetosphere disturbances.
The area of space surrounding the earth known as the magnetosphere is dominated by the magnetic field of the planet.
The disturbances occur when solar particles collide with the gases in the magnetosphere, producing a display of natural light.
Travellers and photographers are accustomed to seeing this sight in Fairbanks, Alaska, Greenland, some regions of Tasmania and New Zealand, Northern Sweden, and Finland. But even the most seasoned photographers can be caught off guard by an erupting aurora.
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