Aurora Borealis

Recently we have been able to see (photographic) northern lights several times in the Netherlands.

But what exactly is northern lights?

Northern lights are created by the solar wind. When a solar flare occurs on the sun, a charge of electrically charged particles is hurled into space. These flames are classified into different classes. You have the class C, M and X.
The X is the most important for us in this regard. The higher the force in X, the more plasma erupted and the greater the amount of electrically charged particles ejected into space.

If such an eruption is directed toward Earth, then the likelihood of auroras increases.
Well then taking into account the speed of the solar wind. That speed is normally around 450km per second. In a strong solar wind, this can reach 900km per second.
Both sunspots and coronal holes can also cause auroras.

I deliberately included the necessary links because there is so much to read that I don’t want to tire you out with this.

A good site to track both the sun and the northern lights is the Aurora site a very good one to follow. If you want to stay up to date on aurora chances, you can also follow Wesley Hogervorst on Facebook. On this page, he keeps us informed of weather phenomena.

I also take a picture of the sun almost daily to track sunspots! In the attached photo you can see sunspot 3664 very clearly, this spot is responsible for last week’s northern lights!

If you want to know more, feel free to ask!