Aurora Borealis in La Palma, an amazing phenomenon In the early morning of May 10, a wonderful spectacle of aurora borealis could be seen from some points of northern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and, surprisingly, also from the Canary Islands. This spectacle has left us impressive images of a night sky with a reddish and magenta glow. What are the Aurora Borealis? Definition and origin The northern lights are a natural phenomenon that we can enjoy as the benign part of solar storms. They occur when colossal explosions take place in the active regions of the Sun, releasing a tremendous amount of energy, equivalent to millions of atomic bombs detonated at the same time. This magnetic energy accumulates and is released in areas of the Sun that can be 10 to 20 times the size of the Earth. Formation and process When these explosions occur in the solar magnetic field, a large amount of energy is released, resulting in a coronal mass ejection (CME). This is the ejection of a huge amount of plasma and charged particles that propagate through the interplanetary medium. If our planet is in the path of this eruption, a portion of these particles may impact with us. The interaction between the cloud of charged particles and the magnetosphere surrounding the Earth produces the aurora borealis. Aurora Borealis on La Palma: Why now? Unusual solar activity These days, the Sun has been unusually active, and we have begun to notice it here on Earth since last Friday, May 10, with the arrival of solar flares originating, above all, in an active region known as AR 3664. This is a very large and complex group of sunspots in which the magnetic field is very twisted, producing tensions that culminate in very violent explosions. Impact on the Earth
Aurora Borealis in La Palma, an amazing phenomenon In the early morning of May 10, a wonderful spectacle of aurora borealis could be seen from some points of northern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and, surprisingly,
