For the very first time, a 'polar rain' aurora was seen in the skies above Planet Earth on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2022. It's very different to Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights - in ...

How a rare, ‘once-in-20-years’ aurora formed at the North Pole. Scientists have identified the phenomenon as a polar rain aurora, never seen before from the ground.

Typically, aurora displays pulsate and churn. A picture of the Northern Lights over Norway, which pulsates and churns, unlike the rare “polar rain” that has puzzled scientists since Christmas ...

However, the smooth aurora of 25–26 December 2022 was very different. Imaged by an All-Sky Electron Multiplying Charge-Coupled Device (EMCCD) camera in Longyearbyen in Norway, the aurora was a ...

A schematic of how polar rain aurora occurs, with electrons streaming out of a coronal hole on the sun. (Image credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn5276) ...