4 stargazers awarded for discovery of new auroras phenomenon

Ursa Astronomical Association on Saturday has awarded four stargazers for discovering a completely new phenomenon of Northern Lights or auroras borealis, said Ursa in a press release on Sunday.

The society awarded the Stella Arcti prize to Heidi Rikala from Ikaalinen and Eero Karvinen from Nurmes. The association earlier awarded Emma Bruus from Nurmijärvi and Lauri Kangas from Espoo for the discovery.

The stargazers discovered the new phenomenon where the appearance of a red arc is linked to bright Northern Lights.

Their studies described that the red arc and the greenish-white formations were caused by a stream of solar particles, the solar wind.

Although the conventional auroras are created by electrons in the solar wind, the newly discovered aurora is caused by protons, which are much heavier particles, said Ursa.

The phenomenon was named the Red Arc with Green Diffuse Aurora (RAGDA) after its appearance.

Ursa has been awarding the Stella Arcti prize since 1988.