The obsession with Northern Lights never goes out of fashion; many people definitely have 'experiencing the Northern Lights at least once in their lives' on their bucket list.
This year, Northern Lights-like skies were seen in Bengaluru at the start of October. Similarly, Punekars also got a chance to experience beautifully hued skies on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not just this, but this year, Aurora lights in red hues were visible from Ladakh's pristine skies late at night in May. However, although Punekars tagged the experience as Northern Lights in the city, it was nowhere related to the phenomenon.
Excited sky-watchers in Pune even posted pictures of the odd lights above on social media. The light in Bengaluru was caused by a comet that passed overhead earlier this month. Speculation over the enigmatic lights quickly led to a deluge of images and videos on social media platforms that captured the vibrant glow.
One X user who posted a very beautiful picture of the sky wrote, "Did I spot Northern Lights in Pune today? Has anyone else seen this unusually colorful sky today around Pune?"
Mystery Behind the Hued Skies in Pune
However, speaking with The Free Press Journal, Prasad Adekar, scientific staff at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, said, "Seeing the patches of colorful sky is totally a normal phenomenon, just like seeing a rainbow. It has nothing to do with global warming and climate change. The phenomenon is more common during rains; just like rainbows, this phenomenon occurs because during the rains, clouds contain a lot of moisture/water vapor, and when sunlight enters into them, the color of light breaks down into seven colors (VIBGYOR), causing the clouds to appear colorful. In Pune and western regions, this phenomenon is mainly seen during rains and is not frequent, but in snow-clad regions or colder places, these phenomena are quite frequent and tend to appear two or three times there."
More such evenings in this month
Gaurav Babar, an amateur astronomer at Star Party Stargazing Astronomy Pune, said, "This phenomenon is called iridescent clouds; the clouds appear to be colorful. This phenomenon will continue to make its presence felt during the first two weeks of October. When light enters into a prism, the dispersion of light occurs, and we can see all seven colors that light is made up of. Similarly, the droplets of water present in the atmosphere break the sunlight into seven colors when light passes through them."
