Its always been one of my ambitions to see the Aurora. It was so exciting to be able to see it here literally on my doorstep in Norfolk on a clear night recently. I’d seen it once before but this was on another level, clearly discernable with the naked eye and with both neon green and a pinkish glow showing.
Its unusual for the Aurora to be visible in mid Norfolk. 2026 has been a good year because we are only just past the peak of the sun’s 11 year solar cycle, which happened in October 2024. The aurora is caused by charged particles streaming from the sun (“solar wind”) hitting the earth’s atmosphere and becoming trapped by its magnetic field. The lowest part of an aurora is about 80 miles above the Earth’s surface and different colours are generated by different combinations of the Earths atmospheric gases:
- Green is caused by oxygen at c. 60-190 mile altitude
- Purple is caused by Nitrogen
- Pink is caused by a mix of Oxygen and Nitrogen
My quick mobile snaps were noisy and underwhelming, so I decided to paint it instead! I included on my page the asterism, or partial constellation, called Ursa Major, literally the Big Bear but also known as the Plough. The last two of its stars Merak and Dubhe are famous for pointing the way to the North Star.
In so doing I noticed that there was another “star” next to Phecda. I wondered what it could be. On closer inspection it wasn’t in my first photo and showed a smeary trail indicating motion, so it seems likely that it was a satellite, although my wistful imagination wishes it were a shooting star to wish upon.
