On the night of April 22, 2023, a beautiful natural spectacle lit up the skies over Ladakh, India. A colorful display of lights, called an aurora borealis or Northern Lights, could be seen shimmering in the night sky.
The aurora was caused by a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when the Earth’s magnetic field is disturbed by solar activity, such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections. When the charged particles from these events hit the Earth’s magnetic field, they create a disturbance that can cause auroras.
Aurora borealis is usually seen in the high-latitude regions near the Earth’s magnetic poles, such as northern Scandinavia, Canada, and Alaska. The aurora occurs when the charged particles from the sun collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the gases in the atmosphere to light up.
The reason why this was the first time an aurora was seen in Ladakh, India, is because it is not a common occurrence at low latitudes. The location of Ladakh, which is a high-altitude region close to the magnetic pole, made it more likely to experience an aurora during a geomagnetic storm.
In summary, the aurora borealis that was seen in Ladakh, India, on April 22, 2023, was caused by a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when the Earth’s magnetic field is disturbed by solar activity. Auroras are usually seen in the high-latitude regions near the Earth’s magnetic poles, and occur when charged particles from the sun collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, causing it to light up. The location of Ladakh, which is close to the magnetic pole, made it more likely to experience an aurora during a geomagnetic storm, and is why it was sighted for the first time there.