Travellers in Ladakh were in for a surprise when the skies were set ablaze in colourful lights as a strong geomagnetic storm struck Earth's magnetic fields, thereby creating unreal auroras. This rare phenomenon was captured by the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) above Mount Saraswati.
Auroras are usually witnessed at higher altitudes in parts of Norway, Alaska, and other countries.
As per the reports, this is for the first time that an aurora was captured on camera in India. In fact, the 360-degree camera atop the IAO in Ladakh Hanle, captured this unreal phenomenon, which is basically by an interaction between the plasma particles hurled by the Sun and Earth's magnetic field.
Referring to this, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics added that it’s extremely rare to see aurora at such a low latitude.
Reports have it that this rare sight took place at 11:42 PM on April 21. The IAO stated, "At 11:42 PM on 21 Apr the Sun launched a coronal mass ejection towards the Earth. This CME (speed of 500-600 km/s) was associated with an M1 class solar flare. The CME arrived at Earth late on April 23 at 10 PM."
The aurora was captured on the night of April 22-23 after a coronal mass ejection was hurtled from the Sun on April 21. Wageesh Mishra, Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, added that the CME struck the Earth at a speed of 21,60,000 km per hour.
As per the IAO, the auroras coming to lower-than-usual latitudes overnight have led to rare sightings from Europe, China, and Ladakh in India. According to them, such a severe geomagnetic storm last occurred in 2015.
