Northern Lights spotted in India! Aurora borealis illuminates Ladakh skies

The aurora borealis, typically seen in polar regions due to disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind, made a rare appearance in Indian skies. For the first time, the Indian Astronomical Observatory captured this phenomenon above Mount Saraswati in Ladakh's Hanle region.

This celestial display, also known as the Northern Lights, is uncommon at lower latitudes like Ladakh's 34-36°N. The auroral red arc appeared around 1 amon May 11 and is expected to persist over the weekend as more coronal mass ejections interact with Earth's outer atmosphere.

Despite Ladakh's mid-latitude location, it experienced a severe G4 geomagnetic storm, as classified by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center. A similar event occurred on April 22-23, 2023, attributed to a coronal mass ejection on April 21, which induced a G4 geomagnetic storm on Earth.

Stable Auroral Red Arcs (SAR arcs) captured from Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, UT Ladakh on 11.05.24 at 0100 hrs. A very rare phenomenon for Mid Latitude like Hanle. Eta Aquarid meteor shower added more beauty to the Aurora, visible in the top right of the photo. pic.twitter.com/RNp7J8wh2q — stanzin norla (@snorl) May 11, 2024

Explaining the phenomenon, Scientific Officer of Institute for Plasma Research Centre Dr Ravi A V Kumar said, as quoted by news agencyANI, "Solar flares are very common, it happens all the time...It happens when the sun gets to the peak of its activity of 11-year circle...After every 11 years, the activity of the sun goes from high to low and in 2025 the activity is going to be at its peak...The chance of solar flares coming out at this time are more...These are highly charged particles of plasma which can travel at very high velocities... The faster these particles move the more dangerous they are...Since these are charged particles from the sun they can get deflected from Earth's magnetic field..."

"Some of these deflected particles can come to polar regions of the earth which then interact with gas molecules in the upper atmosphere and they produce a colour called Aurora...When there is a very strong solar flare like the one which happened yesterday when combined with the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field produces Auroras.People are very fortunate to even see this right upto Northern Italy...The Aurora could also be seen in Hanle Ladakh..." he added.

Stable Auroral Red Arcs (SAR arcs) captured from Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, UT Ladakh on 11.05.24 at 0100 hrs. A very rare phenomenon for Mid Latitude like Hanle. Eta Aquarid meteor shower added more beauty to the Aurora, visible in the top right of the photo. pic.twitter.com/RNp7J8wh2q — stanzin norla (@snorl) May 11, 2024

"Flares come and go, they don't affect us directly but can affect our day-to-day activities like communication as the satellites can be disrupted...Satellite TV signals and radio communication could also get disrupted..." Kumar said.

Aurora borealis and aurora australis across the globe

The rare phenomenon of the aurora borealis was observed not only in India but also in several other countries. Russia witnessed the spectacle as the aurora borealis illuminated its night skies, while northern regions of Germany also caught sight of this ethereal display. In Australia's southern territory of Tasmania, residents captured breathtaking images of the aurora australis.

(With inputs from agencies)