




Mr Mikalsen

Mr Mikalsen captured this strange phenomenon he described as a 'parachute' when taking pictures of the vivid Aurora over Andenes, Norway




Enlarge   aurora



Lead scientist Truls Lynn Hansen from Tromsø Geophysical Observatory said he doubted the picture, taken on January 20, was due to a simple camera fault.

He told the Mail Online: 'The "phenomenon" has the same greenish colour as the Northern Lights. That means the Northern Lights is the source of light causing the strange phenomenon.'

However, Mr Hansen said it was unlikely the Northern Lights could create the optical effect on its own. Instead the aurora might be bouncing off an external source like a satellite or an airplane.

In this way it would act like an 'iridium flare.' The flares are created by sunlight reflecting off iridium satellites. They appear as bright white flashes in the sky.

One problem with Mr Hansen's theory is that the light intensity from the Northern Lights is 100,000 times weaker than the sunlight. But Mr Hansen said this did not exclude the satellite reflection hypothesis.

'The intensity of an intense aurora is not far from the intensity of moonlight,' he said.

'And the (jellyfish) phenomenon is also quite weak. Apparently many orders of magnitude down compared to the solar iridium flares.'

Pal Brekke, senior adviser, at the Norwegian Space Centre, told the Mail Online: 'A reflection from streetlight would be the most straightforward explanation.

'But why is it green? One should think it would be white or yellow if it was a reflection from the streetlight.

'So while I am not yet fully convinced it was a satellite - one cannot rule this out.'

iridium satellite
iridium flare

Iridium satellites have three main antennas. When at a certain angle  the Sun's reflection from one such antenna produces a small spot on the surface of the Earth around 6.25miles in diameter. This moves as the satellite and the Earth move. Someone within this area on Earth can observe iridium flares or flashes in the sky

Aurora Borealis

The Aurora Borealis or 'Northern Lights' as seen by the International Space Station. Some experts believe the aurora can be reflected off satellites like an iridium flare

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