Multicolored Aurora Over Finland
June 01, 2022
Photographer: Dennis Lehtonen
Summary Authors: Dennis Lehtonen; Cadan Cummings
The photo above features a beautiful aurora display that occurred over Finland on February 11, 2022. This aurora event occurred due to energetic particles emitted from a coronal mass ejection on February 6th interacting with the Earth’s magnetosphere. Although our planet’s magnetic field protects us from the solar wind, the energetic particles from geomagnetic storms are steered towards the north and south magnetic poles where they interact with oxygen molecules in the upper atmosphere to create a spectacular green and red display.
To get a clear view of the event, I packed my gear and cycled a few kilometers to a swamp area located in middle of a forest. After around one hour of waiting, I saw something I had never seen before. Half of the sky began to be covered in faint red auroras. I knew something huge was about to happen and remarkably the sky came raining down with vibrant auroras. At around midnight the auroras had escaped to the south horizon, giving people in south- and mid-Finland an impressive display as well.