Aurorae
On November 30, 2020, Dmitrii Rybalka was on a ship approaching the Kara Strait, a waterway that connects the Barents and Kara Seas north of Russia. In the distance, Rybalka saw a whitish band in the sky and went to grab his camera. When he got back a few minutes later, the sky was awash in meandering lines of green light: the aurora borealis.
Aurorae happen when the solar wind collides with Earth’s atmosphere, exciting the molecules and giving off color. Different gases in the atmosphere emit different types of visible light; oxygen gives off the iconic green shade associated with aurorae. EarthSky has a great explainer on the science of aurorae.
