Pictures with the Northern Lights seem incredibly beautiful. Of course, if it does not seem like an eerie alien face stares at you from the sky! This is exactly what happened over Sweden when the G2 class solar storm struck the North Pole. As a result, created the Northern Lights with unexpected bonuses.
At the top of the picture, you can admire a green face with a small black eye. But go below and notice something resembling a storm trooper - a character from Star Wars. An eyewitness, the astrophotographer Goran Strand, reports about the event: “I made a 180 ° sky panorama to get an overview over the city of Handöl (Sweden). Suddenly something quite unusual seemed. Above the clouds and the Northern Lights created a face that seems alien. And below ground attack aircraft! ”.
Just a coincidence and a play of light? As the magnetosphere is bombarded by solar winds, amazing blue lights can form at the top of the northern hemisphere and near parts of the southern one.
Northern Lights over Sweden
But more serious consequences may occur. Earth's magnetic field protects people from dangerous cosmic rays, which can also damage satellite communications. Solar winds (the flow of star particles) are able to warm the outer atmospheric layer of the planet, causing it to expand.
This can lead to disruption of orbital satellites, loss of GPS, cellular communications and satellite television. In addition, a surge of particles is able to fill the magnetosphere with current, which will lead to an increase in the electrical norm in power lines. As a result, we will lose electrical transformers and power plants. A higher amount of radiation will increase the risk of cancer.
