Among last year's finalists for the People's Choice Award in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition there was a mesmerizing image captured by Audun Rikardsen.
The photograph depicted jellyfish gracefully navigating the cool autumnal waters of a fjord outside Tromsø in northern Norway, bathed in the ethereal glow of the aurora borealis.
This dreamy and poetic scene became a reality for millions across the northern hemisphere tonight, as an unexpected display of aurora borealis unfolded in Europe due to a solar storm impacting Earth's atmosphere. Aurora borealis illuminated the night sky across the UK, Europe, and the norther hemisphere.
On social media, witnesses of this spectacle described it as nearly mystical, others felt as if aliens were landing. Those who were lucky enough to witness the aurora borealis were left speechless in its awe-inspiring presence.
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in Earth's atmosphere near the magnetic poles. Typically confined within a band known as the aurora oval, spanning latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees in the northern hemisphere, these displays can occasionally extend further south during periods of heightened activity.
An "extreme" geomagnetic storm tonight amplified the visibility of the lights, with the potential for continued displays into tomorrow. This rare event was triggered by a large sunspot cluster producing multiple solar flares, as observed by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a Geomagnetic Storm Warning, anticipating the impacts of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the sun (NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured activity at sunspot AR3664 that occurred yesterday).
Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth and a severe geomagnetic storm allowed to see the aurora as far south as Alabama and Northern California.
These events not only mesmerize with their visual spectacle but also hold scientific significance, as they underscore the intricate dance between solar activity and Earth's magnetic field.
In fashion, the aurora borealis often served as a muse, inspiring collections with its ephemeral beauty and vivid hues - those tones of pink and fuchsia combined with lime and blue or iridescences and holographic textures.
The specific colors of the aurora depend on the type of gas particles involved in the collisions between charged particles from the solar wind that enter Earth's atmosphere near the magnetic poles with atoms and molecules of gases such as oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, and by the altitude at which the collisions occur. Oxygen atoms typically produce green and red colors, while nitrogen atoms produce blue and purple colors.
Designers like Icelandic Steinunn Sigurðar and Anrealage have drawn inspiration from its mesmerizing displays. Issey Miyake's A/W 17 collection (second image in this post) featured an "Auroral" section, capturing the chromatic fantasia of the Northern Lights with its interplay of blues, purples, reds, greens, and oranges, described as "chromatic fantasia".
As you may remember from a previous post dedicated to that collection, colors and textures overlapped and intertwined in the designs, they shimmered and changed: blue turned into plum and vice versa, while lemon or green morphed into deep turquoise, an effect created by dying Shetland wool into five colors (the wool was then combed into five threads, which meant that the yarn changed color depending from the angle or the point of view of the observer).
The allure of aurora borealis can therefore influence textile design and material innovation as well: through the use of synthetic coatings, special threads, or translucent fabrics like PVC and light organza, designers can evoke the luminosity and enchantment of this celestial phenomenon.
Mesmerized by the myriad of colors and textures of aurora borealis? Consider employing a text-to-image Artificial Intelligence program to come up with ideas for an aurora borealis-inspired collection. Images 3 to 8 featured in this post, for example, were generated with Midjourney.
Most images generated by the system had an intriguing luminescence or incorporated fabrics similar to see-through PVC and light organza. Midjourney also generated swatches for fabrics that had an aurora borealis-like glow and incorporated thin gold threads for that extra luminescence.
In many ways the designs generated weren't extremely innovative, but they explore the connections between celestial phenomena and the beauty of the natural world. In doing so, they serve as a reminder of the boundless possibilities and inspirations offered us by the cosmos and by earthly landscapes.
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