English (UK)
In the early hours of November 11th, 2025, Armistice Day of WW I, two strong coronal mass ejections erupteded almost simultaneously from the Sun's active region #4274 toward the Earth, carrying a large mass of magnetized solar plasma at a speed of about 1,500 km per second.
This material reached our planet in the early hours of today, November 12, interacting with the Earth's upper atmosphere and generating a strong geomagnetic storm (Kp index of 8 to 9-, G4 scale “severe”).
This has produce a spectacular aurora borealis , one of the brightest northern lights ever seen at Andalusian latitudes, along with the aurora of May 2024.
The sensitive webcams installed at Calar Alto were able to grab the phenomenon in all its splendor, giving the northern horizon a deep red hue for a couple of hours.
Due to a waning moon and the arrival of some clouds, the astronomers on duty tonight at Calar Alto were unable to see the phenomenon with the unaided eye.
However, the Sun remains at its peak of activity and it is quite possible that new auroras, not so borealis, can be seen from Calar Alto, the best sky in Europe.
Below, the videos registered from external north camera operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería. The first two videos are the most intense moments of the aurora, while the third is a video that captures a large part of the event. All of them are sped up.
Calar Alto (CAHA) fireball detection station, together with the one at the Observatory of Sierra Nevada (IAA-CSIC) and others placed at different locations in Spain, are part of the S.M.A.R.T. project led by Professor José María Madiedo (IAA) to track that kind of objects. Specifically, Calar Alto (CAHA) station and the one at Sierra Nevada (IAA-CSIC) constitute a collaboration agreement between the IAA researcher José María Madiedo and both institutions.