An aurora was briefly visible over the Czech Republic on Monday night. This was made possible by a combination of several circumstances and modern technology, thanks to which it was possible to predict the fleeting moment.
“In recent days, the Czech Republic has been clear for a long time, which, combined with yesterday’s geomagnetic storm, brought just those rare conditions of aurora visibility from the Czech Republic. However, the aurora was only visible for about 15 minutes. Those who did not continuously monitor the activity on the so-called auroral monitors could not even have suspected that something like this would happen, “described the observations of astrophotographer and employee of the Institute of Physics in Opava, Petr Horálek, who managed to capture the aurora near the shore of the Soča dam.
In the Czech Republic, the air is arid these days. At the same time, thanks to the massive pressure altitude, the weather is clear, both of which contribute to excellent visibility at long distances.
The best chances of seeing the Northern Lights are during the spring and autumn equinoxes. It is a light phenomenon in the high atmosphere at altitudes of around 100 kilometers. They are common in the polar regions but rare in the mid-latitudes and especially in the tropics.