The southern lights were seen again in the Antarctic: photos from polar explorers
Southern aurora
Oleksandr Matsibura and Serhiy Yakushchenko/National Antarctic Science Center
Near the “Akademik Vernadskyi” station, the southern aurora borealis was seen for the second time in a year.
Last time, the southern aurora was observed in mid-August, when it was winter in the Antarctic, and now it is spring on the icy continent.
Ukrainian researchers Oleksandr Matsibura and Serhiy Yakushchenko shared photos of this rare phenomenon on the page of the National Antarctic Science Center.
“Before this aurora had not been seen here for about 10 years. This is due to the fact that the “Vernadskyi” district is located quite far from the south magnetic pole, and it is also constantly cloudy here“the researchers say.
In order to observe the aurora, several conditions must be met: strong disturbances of the Earth’s magnetic field, a cloudless sky and a dark time of day (because during the Antarctic summer it is almost always light near the station).
On the night of September 16-17, a magnetic storm of level K-7 according to the Bartels index was recorded at the geomagnetic observatory on “Vernadskyi”. So the polar explorers immediately went to the place where they managed to photograph the aurora a month ago.
“And although there were streaks of thin clouds in the sky, and the full moon brightly illuminated the space, the researchers observed a unique phenomenon for about 15 minutes. Unlike last time, when the glow appeared mostly in the photo, now winterers saw it with the naked eye.”– they say in the scientific center.
Scientists recall that magnetic storms are associated with coronal emissions of the Sun, when a huge flow of plasma with a “frozen” magnetic field moves towards the Earth.
The interaction between the Sun’s magnetic field and the Earth’s magnetic field causes the discharge of charged particles into the upper atmosphere, which we see as aurora.
At the station “Akademik Vernadskyi” they monitor this and carry it out magnetometric research for 70 years.
We will remind you that the previous southern aurora at the “Akademik Vernadsky” station was filmed on August 12, 2024. And on May 11, the northern lights were spotted over Ukraine.
