万米高空邂逅极光

2024 年 5 月，我们 HXI 团队赴瑞士访问了 STIX 团队。结束访问后，我经巴黎乘坐 MU554 航班返回上海。5 月 11 日凌晨，飞机飞经蒙古与俄罗斯交界附近，朝北的舷窗外出现了一片红紫色的光，下面衬着一道绿色光带。光柱从地平线上升起，像帷幕一样垂在夜空里。我用手机隔着舷窗，留下了这组照片。In May 2024, our HXI team visited the STIX team in Switzerland. After the visit, I travelled home via Paris on flight MU554 to Shanghai. In the early hours of 11 May, near the Mongolia–Russia border, red and magenta light appeared through the north-facing window, above a green band along the horizon. Columns of light hung like curtains in the night sky. I photographed them through the window with my phone.

这张机票提前一个月就订好了。夜间航程、朝北的座位，以及太阳风暴抵达地球的时间，恰好凑在了一起。5 月 10 日至 11 日，多次日冕物质抛射（CME）引发了强烈地磁暴，使极光的可见范围向较低纬度扩展。从万米高空望出去，远处的地平线和上方的极光尽收眼底。I had booked the flight a month earlier. The overnight route, the north-facing seat, and the arrival of the solar storm happened to coincide. On 10–11 May, a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) drove a powerful geomagnetic storm and brought auroras into view at unusually low latitudes. From cruising altitude, I had a clear view of the distant horizon and the aurora above it.

平时，我研究的是太阳上的耀斑与高能辐射。这一次，太阳活动在地球空间环境中留下的痕迹，出现在了一扇小小的舷窗里。My usual work concerns flares and high-energy radiation on the Sun. That night, the effects of solar activity on the environment around Earth appeared through a small aircraft window.