A rift in Earth's magnetic field opened on February 18, 2020, causing the strangest auroras in years.
First, the blue northern lights lit up the skies over Norway's Lofoten Islands before the strangely formed green aurora borealis electrified the night sky.
The night show lasted 2 hours with a spectacular display of pale green, blue and purple auroras over the Rhine mountains.
Blue auroras are rare.
The most common northern lights are green and red. They are formed when oxygen is energized by electrons raining down from space.
In contrast, blue auroras show the presence of nitrogen (N2 +) and form at very high altitudes (> 400 km).
Usually blue is weak, but look again at the photo above. On February 18th, this color was surprisingly bright and rich.
Strange shaped green auroras
Later that night, the auroras turned green again. But they looked completely strange, like the strange pockmarked arch of Aurora.