This week has been a thrilling one for skywatchers, as beautiful aurorae were visible in locations around the world. Also known as the Northern Lights, this phenomenon occurs when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth’s atmosphere, and it is typically only seen in far northern regions near to the Arctic. But because of the unusually high level of activity from the sun, aurorae were visible much farther south than is usual, and many people were able to snap stunning images.
Beloved science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson snapped an image from Long Island in New York:
From Long Island, NY, the Aurora this evening.
Caused by charged solar particles arriving at Earth from yesterday's solar flare. They slam into atmospheric molecules of Oxygen and Nitrogen, rendering them a-glow. Here, Red and Green are visible, with the Big Dipper looking on. pic.twitter.com/wgzCIiJUHu
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 11, 2024
And the aurorae were also visible across much of the U.K., with both the UK Met Office and the Royal Astronomy Society sharing images:
The aurora has been visible across many parts of the UK this evening
Here are some photos taken by our meteorologists situated across the country pic.twitter.com/pTvGTuRqWK
— Met Office (@metoffice) October 10, 2024
Did you see the spectacular Northern Lights last night? Here are some beautiful #aurora images from across the UK…
And a reminder of why they have put on such a show and been seen much further south this year: https://t.co/a9RKHQMdmk #northernlights pic.twitter.com/xjXKXb7bWk
— Royal Astronomical Society (@RoyalAstroSoc) October 11, 2024
The view was also caught earlier this week from space, as NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared a photo he took from the International Space Station, and many more images from skywatchers around the world are available at space.com. Aurorae photograph particularly well using a simple smartphone camera so many people were able to capture impressive images without needing any specialist equipment for astrophotography.
The reason that the views have been so impressive is the activity of the sun. The sun goes through an 11-year cycle of activity, and it is currently entering its most active period, called the solar maximum. The cycle is caused by the sunspots that exist on the sun’s surface, which are cooler and darker regions that are created by the sun’s magnetic field. When more of these sunspots are facing Earth, the solar activity decreases. When fewer of these sunspots are present, as is the case now, the sun’s activity increases. It is more likely to give off bursts like solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).
This week has seen four strong solar flares erupt from the sun, when powerful bursts of energy are sent out that can interfere with satellites and communications technology when they arrive at Earth, in a phenomenon called space weather.
But while these solar flares can cause problems for technology located in space, the increased solar activity also increases the number of aurorae that can be seen from Earth.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.