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A rare phenomenon around the globe, the northern lights have only been observed at a few places on Earth. However, they were recently sighted in Ladakh, India. On May 11, 2024.
Ladakh witnessed the Aurora Borealis for the first time in India on May 11, 2024.
The same location in Ladakh saw the sighting of northern lights during the evening of April 22–23, 2023.
The Aurora Borealis is translated as "light of dawn.
At higher latitudes, the Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomenon that may be seen in some areas of Scandinavia and the Nordic region. For millennia, people have been enthralled by the stunning dancing ribbons of light known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis. Our planet's magnetic field shields us from solar particles that may strike Earth's upper atmosphere at up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), which is how the northern lights are produced.
The term "Aurora" is said to have been first used by Galileo in 1623, and it is formed from the names of the goddess of the morning, Aurora, and the personified northern wind, Boras.
A strong solar storm last Friday gave the sky around the world a captivating show of the Northern Lights, illuminating the night in shades of purple, pink, and green. Even India was treated to a unique sighting on May 11th, when the magnificent aurora borealis was seen in Ladakh. This phenomenon is usually confined to high-latitude areas close to the poles, which makes the occurrence in mid-latitude Ladakh more noteworthy.
This is an extremely unusual occurrence for mid-latitudes such as Hanle. As seen in the upper right corner of the picture, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower enhanced the grandeur of the Aurora.
A fascinating phenomenon that is caused by an interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the plasma particles launched by the sun was photographed by the 360-degree camera atop the IAO in Ladakh Hanle. This was the first time the aurora was captured on camera in India by the Indian Astronomical Observatory.
