Adembenemend Noorderlicht

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NORTHERN LIGHTS: The solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field and stirring up auroras around the Arctic Circle. A beacon of light from the John Lennon memorial Imagine Peace Tower pointed to the display over Reykjavik, Iceland, on Nov 11th:

"The combination of the beacon and the Northern Lights resembled a beautiful flower in the sky--a nice tribute to Lennon," says photographer Marketa Stanczykova.

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AURORA WATCH: Earth is exiting a solar wind stream that sparked bright auroras around the Arctic Circle on Nov. 14th-16th. Øystein Lunde Ingvaldsen sends this picture from Bø in Vesterålen, Norway:

"The auroras were dancing over my head and at my feet," says Ingvaldsen, who caught the lights reflecting in the cool water's edge using his Nikon D700. "It was a wonderful display."

According to NOAA, the chance of more geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours has dropped to 15%, a result of declining solar wind speed.

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A solar wind gust hit Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 27th, sparking a geomagnetic storm (Kp=6) and an outburst of auroras that surprised onlookers. "We experienced an explosion of Northern Lights," reports Therese van Nieuwenhoven of the Polar Light Center in Lofoten, Norway. "Suddenly, our magnetometers began to show big activity and we could see the most beautiful and moving auroras."

"I did not expect auroras tonight," adds Bjørn Jørgensen of Tromso, Norway, "but suddenly there was a huge, powerful outburst that lasted for about an hour and a half