A camera captured the vast, diffuse glow produced after the solar wind dropped to a whisper On Christmas night in 2022, a massive aurora lit up the sky for thousands of kilometres around the North Pole. The light show gave scientists a unique glimpse of the elusive ‘polar rain aurora’, a rare shimmering phenomenon that forms when energetic electrons from the Sun cascade onto Earth’s polar regions. Auroras form when charged particles flowing from the Sun hit and interact with Earth’s magnetic field. Their energy is usually transformed into light shows of dancing green curtains, towering red pillars, or other spectacles such as those that dazzled skywatchers around the world in May. Polar rain auroras are a special type that form when electrons travelling directly from the Sun's co...
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