Aurora borealis reached Moscow: scientists explained the cause of the phenomenon

This historical fact nevertheless happened: the aurora borealis almost “came” to Moscow. More precisely, they quite clearly saw him in the Moscow region, on the border between the Shatursky and Orekhovo-Zuevsky districts on the night of February 28, and even managed to photograph him. The aurora was caused by a powerful solar flare on the Sun, which occurred on February 24, and was accompanied by a very strong geomagnetic storm. The correspondent of “MK” learned the details of the event.

There are a lot of Muscovites who dream of seeing the northern, or polar, lights. Particularly active people even book tours to the Murmansk region during a period of special solar activity. However, miracles happen, and now the aurora borealis has come to Moscow by itself: astrophotographers who hunt for such events have begun to record a natural phenomenon in the night sky.

Daniil Vitushkin, who lives on the border of the Shatursky and Orekhovo-Zuevsky districts, is not the first to encounter aurora at the latitude of Moscow. Since technology has made a significant step forward (approximately since 2015-2017), weak auroras in our area have been detected more and more often.

But still, to see such a spectacle with a simple eye, and even capture it on camera, you have to work hard.

Daniil and aurora hunters like him knew that on February 24 there was a powerful flash on the Sun, they knew that a strong magnetic storm would occur on Earth as a result, and they were fully prepared for the aurora. The result was a picture with a multi-colored “watercolor” on a black sky, which Daniil shared with MK.

“Of course, there is a normal mode and a small color correction with increased contrast,” explains the author of a unique image. – In principle, this photo, like any other night shot with stars, was processed after shooting.

The current aurora surprised even the residents of the city of Apatity, in the Murmansk region. If earlier they saw mostly green-blue gamut in the sky during a geomagnetic storm, then on the night of February 28, the sky turned red. According to experts, this is extremely rare and is due to the fact that the colorful “show”, which usually appears at an altitude of 80-100 km, has reached an altitude of 400-500 km.

It was this unusual sight that made Finnish Airlines pilots turn their aircraft 360 degrees. The passengers decided that the pilots decided to please them by going on the second run. However, the reason for such a turn could be the pilots’ fear of a possible collision with a large stream of charged particles that accompany the auroras, because they can disable radio equipment.

– It seems that the Sun, which in recent years has not been distinguished by strong outbreaks, is finally waking up? – I ask the head of the Center for Space Weather Forecasts, Deputy Director for Research of the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism and Radio Wave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN) Artem Abunin.

– We really recorded a very large geomagnetic disturbance, which lasted throughout the day on February 27 and ended only at 9.00 on the 28th, – explains the scientist. – This is one of the largest geomagnetic storms in the 25th cycle of solar activity, which began in 2019, and one of the strongest in the last two cycles. In my memory, the last time this happened was only in September 2017. According to preliminary data, a very large geomagnetic storm of the Kr8 class (with a maximum, extreme – Kp9) raged on Earth all the previous day.

– With such a disturbance, is the aurora borealis at 55 degrees north latitude, that is, at the latitude of Moscow, is this a normal phenomenon?

I would be surprised if he wasn’t here right now. Somewhere not in the north or in the east of the Moscow region, where there was no urban illumination, it could certainly be seen.

– What caused this phenomenon?

– Solar flares occur periodically. In order for a bright spectacle to appear in the sky, it is necessary that they be powerful, with the release of a large amount of plasma in the direction of our planet. This plasma flies for 2-3 days (the fastest recorded arrival is after 19 hours). These are precisely such large flares that gave birth to large solar plasma emissions and appeared on the Sun on February 24 and 25. It was this plasma, which reached the Earth on February 27, that “rocked” our atmosphere, generating geomagnetic storms, and “ignited” the auroras.

– In theory, the aurora borealis is not so rare for Moscow?

– Yes. Only until 2008, we did not have the technology that could catch them, and after solar activity began to decline. The fact is that the previous 11-year cycle, which began in 2009, the Sun produced very few flares. A new cycle has begun in 2019, it is a little stronger than the previous one. Now it is moving towards its maximum, which, according to various scientists, is expected from the end of 2023 to the end of 2024. So we may still see new auroras.