Pink & Green Aurora 'Ribbons' over Alberta

Pink & Green Aurora 'Ribbons' over Alberta

Photographer Karsten Berger: "It was the last night of my vacation and it was truly memorable. Again, the northern lights came out very early during sunset and put on a show. After several coronas, they turned bright pink and didn’t stop shining for several minutes. I have never seen them last that long."

On Earth, auroras are mainly created by particles originally emitted by the Sun in the form of solar wind. When this stream of electrically charged particles gets close to our planet, it interacts with the magnetic field, acting as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth where charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth.

Earth auroras are named depending on the pole they occur at. Aurora Borealis, or the southern lights, is the name given  to auroras around the north pole and Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, is the name given for auroras around the south pole.

The Colors of the Aurora (U.S. National Park Service)

https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm

Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. state of Montana to its south. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two landlocked Canadian provinces.

Image Credit: Karsten Berger
Capture Location: High Level, Alberta
Image Date: Oct. 2, 2025

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