Ladakh observatories spot red aurora

Quite disappointing

Ladakh observatories spot red aurora

The Hanle and Merak observatories in Ladakh, which capture photographs of the night sky, last week spotted a phenomenon uncommon in India — an intense red aurora.

Auroras are patterns of bright lights in the sky that are seen when particles ejected by the Sun interact with the magnetic field around the Earth. The phenomenon is usually visible closer to the poles.

While the Hanle observatory was able to capture the lights towards the northern horizon, the view of the camera at Merak on the banks of Pangong Tso was obstructed by high mountains. “The red auroral light could be seen towards the Northern horizon from 10 pm till midnight of 5 November and its intensity peaked around 10:40 pm,” said Dorje Angchuk, the engineer in charge of the Halen observatory.

This is the second aurora event captured by the Hanle observatory this year, with the previous one being recorded on April 23. “The aurora is seen when the plasma released during solar flares interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field. The plasma enters from the poles which is where most of the Aurora is seen. It is mostly not visible in places closer to the equator like India. However, when the event is intense it may be seen,” said Vemareddy, solar astronomer from Indian Institute of Astrophysics that operates the observatory.

A higher-than-usual number of aurora events will likely be visible over the next two years. Vemareddy said: “The number of solar flares on the Sun increases and decreases during a 11-year cycle. At present, we are in the ascending phase of the cycle, meaning that there are likely to be more solar flares in the coming year. The peak of the cycle is likely to be reached in 2025, after which the activity will start going down,” he said.

Hanle is an ideal place to observe the phenomenon as it is India’s only dark sky reserve — an area where special measures are taken to reduce artificial light pollution.

The latest auroral activity has been linked to a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) — an eruption from the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere that is hotter than its surface — that occurred at the Sun two days prior. Data from NASA space missions reveals that there was an eruption from the Sun at 10:15 am (IST) on 3 November. “A geomagnetic storm commenced at around 3:30 pm on 5 November and peaked at 1:30 am in the early morning of 6 November,” said Vemareddy.

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Anonna Dutt – 2023-11-08 23:19

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