Wow!!!!!
http://spaceweather.com/On Dec. 9th, aurora tour guide Chad Blakley of Sweden's Abisko National Park was warming up inside a Sami hut, when he looked through the door and noticed the snow turning green. "I rushed outside," he says, "and discovered one of the most beautiful aurora displays I had ever seen dancing overhead." In addition to green, there was a rare and remarkable fringe of pink:
It was the "nitrogen fringe." Most auroras are green--a verdant glow caused by energetic particles from space hitting oxygen atoms 100 km to 300 km above Earth's surface. Seldom-seen pink appears when the energetic particles descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below.
"For almost five minutes, fast-moving pink auroras streaked across the sky," says Blakley. "I have been photographing the Northern Lights for years, and I can honestly say that this was the brightest pink aurora I have ever seen." Using two cameras, he recorded a pair of must-see videos:
Aurora Borealis in Abisko National Park, Sweden December 9th, 2014 on VimeoAurora Borealis in Abisko National Park, Sweden. December 9th, 2014 Part II on VimeoArctic sky watchers should be alert for more pink in the nights ahead. NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Dec. 13-14 as a solar wind stream buffets Earth's magnetic field.
