In Mongolia, the sky turns red, but why?

 Only at very high altitudes does this occur.

    Imagine the deep red color that suddenly appears in the night sky above Mongolia. This is what occurred when the sky was illuminated by a rare occurrence known as a blood-red aurora.

Normally green or blue, auroras are caused by strong solar storms; however, this one was red.

    When charged particles from the solar storm struck the atmosphere, they caused the oxygen molecules to glow red. The particles were launched towards Earth.

Only at high altitudes, where there is less oxygen, does this occur.

Today in Mongolia, the Northern Lights/Aurora borealis 🌲🌳

When solar particles combine with oxygen at high altitudes of more than 241 km, where the air is thinner, the result is aurora. The color red is thought to be the rarest among the Northern Lights.#Толярноесияние #Туйлыняуяа #bloodaurora pic.twitter.com/Sh6sHnPn1O

— Bileg, December 1, 2023 (@eebileg)

There are very few recorded instances of red auroras in history, and they are extremely rare.

The fact that the one in Mongolia was so brilliant and long-lasting made it exceptionally unusual.

Because studying the red aurora will teach scientists more about solar storms and how they impact Earth, scientists are eager to study them.

For all others, it was a breathtaking spectacle.