A few days ago, the aurora phenomenon was observed in Altay, Xinjiang and other places, and the aurora we heard about in the past is often found in the north and south poles or places with high latitudes. So what is the difference between the aurora brought by this extremely strong geomagnetic storm and the usual auroras that occur in the polar regions? Researchers at Wuhan University's China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center analyzed the aurora phenomenon.
The aurora video in the picture was taken by photographers and astronomy enthusiasts at the Altay Observatory in Xinjiang in the early morning of May 11. Colorful pillars of light such as red, purple, and green shine and dance in the night sky, like a dreamy picture.
Kong Jian, associate professor at the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University: Aurora is this kind of high-energy particles (solar flares) that invade the earth's space environment and collide with the high-energy particles of our outer space and the atoms of our earth, and produce a luminescence phenomenon after the collision.
The geodetic space environment monitoring team of the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University has been engaged in the research of geomagnetic storms in Antarctica for a long time. Researchers told reporters that the sun's energetic particles are imported from the earth's poles, causing disturbances in the polar region and the global space environment, and this anomaly can propagate all the way to the equator.
The auroras they see in the South Pole are mostly green. The aurora in Altay, Xinjiang, also has a variety of colors such as red and purple, which is due to the intense solar activity, and at the same time, it is also directly related to the collision of high-energy particles released by the sun with different atoms such as oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere.
Kong Jian, associate professor at the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center at Wuhan University: We have monitored that the altitude of this impact may be 200 kilometers, or even more than 200 kilometers. And it hits a lot of nitrogen atoms, and when the energetic particles hit the nitrogen atoms, it doesn't emit green light, but this colorful, colored light.
Kong Jian told reporters that under normal circumstances, the area where the mainland can see the aurora can only reach the latitude range of the Mohe River in Heilongjiang. The magnitude of this magnetic storm is very large, and the aurora phenomenon caused by it has a wide range of effects, which can be observed in the Altay region of Xinjiang.
Kong Jian, associate professor at the China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center of Wuhan University: Because of the relatively high altitude of its impact, it is 200 kilometers. Therefore, we have a visual range of 100 kilometers on Earth. Therefore, we can see this colored light in the Altay region of Xinjiang.
Researchers have monitored more than a dozen strong solar events since May this year, and the geomagnetic storm that occurred from May 11 to 13 was the largest in nearly 20 years. Researchers told reporters that they are further analyzing and studying the impact of geomagnetic storms on communication, navigation and positioning, as well as people's daily work and life.