Northern lights to be visible in Slovenia in coming days
Ljubljana, 6 November - It will be possible to observe the northern lights, i.e. aurora borealis, in Slovenia today and in the coming days. The northern lights were to be the most visible today around 6pm, yet not as intense as they were on Sunday, when many photos of the redish light, visible practically all over Slovenia, were published on social media.
On the occasion, Tomaž Zwitter, a professor of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology at the Ljubljana Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, told Radio Slovenija that while the aurora borealis was visible in a large part of Europe this time, "it was one of the most pronounced ones in the last two decades in our region".
He told TV Slovenija that the reason for the intense phenomenon was a strong solar wind, which happened on Friday morning sending particles towards the Earth.
Friday's eruption has "calmed down relatively quickly", so Zwitter did not expect "any major show" today, yet he admitted it was difficult to make predictions.
The northern lights are the result of solar geomagnetic storms, with electrically charged particles of the magnetosphere, mainly electrons, come in contact with the Earth's atmosphere and react, says the Neurje.si portal.
Auroras can have different colours, with weak phenomena being usually white, and stronger ones being yellow-green or red.
The portal announced that the phenomenon could repeat today, as solar geomagnetic storms will be stronger up to and including Wednesday, so aurora borealis could be visible also in the moderate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.