Why has the blood-red night sky over Ladakh's Hanle village left the internet stunned? Explained

The night sky over Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in remote high-altitude deserts of eastern Ladakh has become a talking point on social media. On the nights of January 19 and 20, auroral activity was captured by the all-sky camera at the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Ladakh's Hanle, reports The Hindu. The sky gazers observed a rare blood-red auroras, a celestial spectacle usually witnessed near polar regions, stretching across the starlit heavens above Hanle village. This is the sixth time during the current solar cycle the intense red coloured auroral activity was captured.

Why were the blood red auroras seen?

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), which operates the observatory, said the aurora witnessed at Hanle was the result of a strong geomagnetic storm that began at around 3:30 am on January 20. “The storm reached its maximum intensity at 8.30 p.m. on January 20, with a peak disturbance of −218 nano Tesla,” it said.

Though the red auroras over Hanle provided a stunning visual of intense solar activity, these celestial displays are a warning for India's satellites and power grids, reports India Today. While social media has been flooded with mesmerising images of the Northern Lights over Ladakh, the scientific reality goes beyond what you can imagine. These displays are not merely stunning visuals, but visible signs of an increasingly volatile Sun.


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On January 18, an X-class solar flare erupted from the Sun, releasing a massive cloud of magnetised plasma known as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). This giant bubble of solar gas and magnetic fields was hurled into space at extraordinary speed, racing towards Earth at nearly 1,700 kilometres per second and reaching the planet in just 25 hours.

When the charged particles struck Earth’s magnetic field, they triggered a G4-level geomagnetic storm. A geomagnetic storm is a significant disturbance of Earth’s magnetic shield, caused when the solar wind interacts with the space environment around the planet. The distinct red colour observed during the auroral display occurs when high-altitude oxygen atoms, at heights of more than 300 kilometres, become excited by incoming solar particles.

When was the aurora display seen?

The auroral display was visible from late evening, around 9:30 pm, until midnight, over the central Hanle plateau, especially on clear, moonless nights when the sky was at its darkest. According to sky-watchers and local astrophotography posts, the glow from this rare geomagnetic storm was most intense toward the northern horizon, offering a rare opportunity to witness auroral activity at an unusually low latitude.

The Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, near the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), is the prime location. Nearby regions such as Pangong Tso’s Merak village and surrounding high-altitude valleys in eastern Ladakh also provide excellent viewing points when conditions align.

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Interaction with CME

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), which operates the observatory, said the aurora observed at Hanle was caused by a strong geomagnetic storm that began at around 3:30 am on January 20. Using a combination of ground-based and space-based observations, IIA scientists are now studying the physical mechanisms behind such storms to better understand the Sun’s influence on Earth.

The institute explained that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are massive expulsions of billions of tonnes of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun into interplanetary space, some of which can strike Earth and trigger geomagnetic storms.

According to IIA, the storm reached its peak intensity at around 8:30 pm on January 20, registering a maximum disturbance of −218 nanoTesla.

NASA’s space-based remote-sensing observations showed that the storm was triggered by the interaction of a CME launched from the Sun around 1:30 pm on January 18. The CME originated from Active Region 14341 near the centre of the solar disk, was expelled at a speed of about 1,400 km per second, and was associated with an X1.9-class solar flare along with solar energetic particles. In terms of space-weather severity, the event was classified as a G4-level geomagnetic storm with an S4 radiation level.

“During the ongoing 25th solar cycle, only six geomagnetic storms with intensities exceeding −200 nT have been recorded, which have the potential to cause low latitudinal arorae. A coronal hole was observed over a large area surrounding the active region, which may have facilitated the CME’s rapid propagation toward earth within approximately 28 hours,” P. Vemareddy, a solar astrophysicist at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, told The Hindu.