Olbia. Olbia, like Iceland, our city has also provided spectacular images which are currently flooding the pages of numerous enthusiasts and professional photographers with red.
The surprising photo of the Olbia lighthouse, which we show you exclusively, is by the well-known Olbia photographer Fabio Serra, who we asked to tell us about his night spent chasing the stars. “We knew about this big geomagnetic storm that would hit the earth in these days. But no one would have dreamed of seeing the aurora up to these latitudes – explains Serra – At first it appeared as a purple glow in the sky towards the north. Then it exploded around 1 am taking on the classic shapes of the Northern Lights. Colors clearly visible to the naked eye: from green to blue to magenta. An incredible spectacle that also shows a wonderful starry sky. “This photo is an overview of 5 shots Taken with Sony a7 IV and 12 mm f2.8” Concludes Serra, who we thank for sharing this wonder with us.
The images of the Olbia lighthouse are also spectacular and can be admired on the profile of a photographer from Olbia, Mauro Mendula (click here). A surprising enchantment that leaves no one indifferent.
The curious aurora that dyes the celestial vault with a brighter color is due to solar storm underway at this time. The most important effects are expected today, Saturday 11th. The Space Weather Prediction Center of the US agency Noaa had increased the forecast level for the storm to G4, the second highest on the scale, which foresees impacts on the electricity grid , on satellite navigation systems such as GPS and problems with satellites and space vehicles, as well as the greater probability of being able to admire the Northern Lights even at low latitudes, as is in fact happening. But solar activity it will remain intense also in the next period, we are approaching the peak, the last G4 storm occurred less than two months ago, on March 23, 2024, according to the space meteorology center. A solar, or geomagnetic, storm is a disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field, affected by high-energy particles emitted by the Sun which make the outermost layer of the atmosphere electrically charged. Due to this phenomenon, radio waves traveling in these areas lose energy due to more frequent collisions with electrons, and this causes their degradation or even complete absorption. The approaching storm is due to the intense activity of a gigantic group of Sunspots, called AR3664, which extends for about 200,000 kilometers, therefore about 16 times the size of the Earth. This is one of the largest and most active regions observed in this solar cycle, which began in December 2019. At 00:54 Italian on May 11 the level was increased to G5the highest level of danger, the last one was recorded in 2003, but at this moment the biggest concern remains making a spectacular shot.
Article made in collaboration with Barbara Curreli
