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Tiny particles floating in our air. This visualization shows how tiny particles called aerosols move through Earth's atmosphere from August 1 to September 14, 2024, using NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model. These particles, which include sea salt, dust, smoke, and sulfates, can travel thousands of miles and...

42,530 views • 1 year ago •via X (Twitter)

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So, when I took this aurora, at first I thought that my settings were not correct because the aurora appeared white. I thought maybe the ISO was off, or I picked the wrong lens. Turns out, what I thought was white is actually light pink, and this led me down a path of learning. Aurora colors are the result of solar particles (think: microscopic sun bullets) interacting with Earth’s magnetospheric electrons (think: a bunch of charged particles which act like a force field around Earth that protect us from direct hits from the sun bullets). When there is a strong solar storm, which is basically a grouping of solar particles headed in our direction, the magnetospheric electrons get bombarded. While they still do their job of protecting us, they get super energized and are accelerated toward our poles. These now high-velocity electrons then hit different gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, mainly oxygen and nitrogen. When this happens, the gas molecules get excited, jump to a different energy level, and emit light at different wavelengths when they return to their original state. The color of that wavelength depends on the collision impact, type of gas molecule, atmospheric density, and altitude. Green is the most common aurora color, and it occurs when the electrons hit oxygen molecules between 60-150 miles altitude. If the solar particles hit oxygen but at a higher altitude, above 150 miles, the resultant color is red. This only happens under intense solar storm activity because of the lower density of atomic oxygen at higher altitudes. At lower altitudes during these intense storms, below 60 miles, auroras can appear purple or blue due to electrons hitting nitrogen molecules or pink when they hit slightly higher nitrogen around 60 miles. Auroras can appear other colors due to mixing of these phenomena. Now when I watch this video, I am amazed by the color variations. This one was very pink-hued!

COL Anne McClain

49,139 views • 1 year ago