aurora boreale italia

Aurora Borealis in Italy, the images of the show that lit up the skies from North to South

Auroral phenomena of 10 October 2024: Valamenco (SO), Lombardy. Credit: Moreno Dellandrino

THE’Northern Lights dyed the skies of Northern Italy red between yesterday evening and night October 10, 2024with spectacular sightings too to the naked eye in northern Italy. It was there greater auroral activity in our country after the auroras of May 10th, caused by a G4 class geomagnetic storm which hit the Earth yesterday around 5pm Italian time. Although not with the naked eye, auroral phenomena have been visible throughout Italyup to Puglia and Calabria. Auroras are a typical phenomenon of high latitudes, but in recent times they have also been increasingly frequent in Italy because the Sun is approaching its peak of magnetic activity.

Northern Lights Calabria
Auroral phenomena of 10 October 2024: Montalto Uffugo (CS), Calabria. Credit: Francesco Scalzo

It is not the first time that auroras and SARs have been seen in Italy this year, but most of the sightings have occurred via alpine webcams with long exposures on very dark skies (the last notable example dates back to August), while the Yesterday’s auroral phenomena were clearly visible even to the naked eye in urbanized areas.

The first auroral phenomena were seen around 8pm yesterday, therefore less than an hour after sunset: one of the first sightings comes from a webcam of Cima Grappain the Dolomites.

Image
Auroral phenomena of 10 October 2024: Cima Grappa, Veneto. Credit: Domenico Sosta

The phenomena weakened in the following hours due to a worsening in the alignment between the flow of the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field: this caused the phenomena to lose visibility with the naked eye. Activity resumed around 10.30pm due to increased solar wind density and better geomagnetic alignment, and after about an hour it weakened again. The auroras and auroral arcs became visible again during the night at1:30 about.

The “up and down” of intensity lasted practically for the whole night, giving us a spectacle that rarely happens in our latitudes. Just think that in some areas of Northern Italy, in addition to the classic red aurora typical of our latitudes, the highest offshoots of the green auroras that illuminated the skies of Northern Europe were also seen!

Varese Northern Lights
Red and green aurora photographed in Campo dei Fiori, Lombardy. Credit: Salvatore Mamì

A show that was possible thanks to a favorable combination of several factors: mainly the density of the solar wind, its intensity and the details of the Earth’s magnetic field. The clear skies across the peninsula helped and – an element that is often taken for granted – the fact that the geomagnetic storm was at its best while it was night in Italy!

Image
Auroral phenomena of 10 October 2024: Ligurian Alps, Liguria. Credit: Luca Morra