The incredible spectacle was seen in various Russian regions as far south as Moscow
Northern light in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region © RIA Novosti via Telegram
Stunning images of the aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, have been captured in the sky above multiple Russian cities on Sunday.
Residents from the northern regions of Leningrad, Tver, Pskov, and Novgorod as well as the cities of Volokolamsk and Murmansk, shared breathtaking photographs of the natural phenomena. The impressive light show, caused by a sunstorm, began at about 8pm and lasted until midnight.
“Right now you can see the northern light above the zenith,” a resident of Pskov posted in a local astronomy group in VK social network at 8.45 pm on Sunday.
“The green liquid has spilled over,” another person said while sharing stunning photos of the lights above his town.
The sky in Karelia also looked epic, lit by a range of colors.
An amazing image came from Zvenigorod in the Moscow region.
And a fantastic shot from Veliky Novgorod.
The aurora borealis phenomenon generally occurs in the Earth’s polar regions and is best seen during the late evening and night time between September and April, when the sky gets dark enough.
It is caused by geomagnetic storms when charged particles from the sun, mainly electrons and protons, interact with Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere creating an aurora.
The color of the light depends on which gas is being excited by the electrons and how much energy is being exchanged. Oxygen emits greenish-yellow or red light while nitrogen produces blue glare. The shape of the light depends on where in the magnetosphere the particles came from.
The current mesmerizing dance of colors is caused by the colossal Sunspot AR3590, which recently unleashed the most potent solar flare in over half a decade towards Earth.
