Inexplicable phenomena

THERE are phenomena that seem inexplicable and while science is there to let us know what it’s all about, we can’t help but marvel.

When one of those seem- ingly unattainable phenomena touches you up close the mystery is even greater and that has happened with an aurora borealis that was seen from the Calar Alto Observa- tory in Almeria towards the end of April.

Aurora borealis also known as the northern lights are an atmospheric phenomenon in which undulating waves of green, purple, and red lights dance across the sky. They occur when waves of energised particles from the sun called solar wind bombard our atmosphere.

The visibility of the phenomenon at the latitude of the observatory confirms the power of the solar eruption that took place and the exquisite transparency of the skies over Calar Alto.

Aurora borealis are common phenomena at high latitudes and even more spectacular during the maximum of solar activity that has a cycle of 11 years, but the auroras are very rare in the Iberian Peninsula.

The last sighting of an aurora in Spain took place 20 years ago.