China's northernmost city of Mohe in Heilongjiang Province has been treated to a spectacular natural display of stunning northern lights, or aurora borealis, triggered by a powerful geomagnetic storm in the past few days.
The aurora first appeared on Sunday evening and continued through the early hours of Monday morning, painting the night sky with mesmerizing hues of green, red, and purple. On Monday night, the celestial show reached new heights as the brilliant aurora was framed by the dazzling Perseid meteor shower.
"The bottom part of the aurora was green, above which the lights gradually turned pink, purple, and red - it was absolutely breathtaking. I'm so lucky and excited to witness this," said a tourist.
"It's really rare to see the aurora alongside the Big Dipper and shooting stars. I couldn't help but jump up and down and scream in excitement," said another.
The aurora borealis is caused by the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field. The phenomenon is observable in areas close to the Earth's north pole, making the northernmost Chinese city the best place in the country to observe the natural wonder.
Stunning aurora borealis, shooting stars seen in northeast China's Mohe
Stunning aurora borealis, shooting stars seen in northeast China's Mohe
Stunning aurora borealis, shooting stars seen in northeast China's Mohe
Members of the Shenzhou-19 crew aboard China's Tiangong Space Station successfully completed their second series of extravehicular activities (EVAs) at 01:12 (Beijing Time) on Tuesday, after performing multiple tasks including the installation of space debris protection devices and an extravehicular inspection.
Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze worked for over eight hours to complete the tasks, with Cai and Song undertaking spacewalk duties. They were assisted by the space station's robotic arm and a team on Earth.
Song stepped out of Tiangong's Wentian lab module at 16:55 on Monday. Cai exited the module about two hours later to join Song on device installation tasks. Meanwhile, Wang stayed in the station's core module to provide support.
"The primary task is to install debris protection devices outside the module to safeguard its external cables from debris impact. Given the increasingly severe risk of space debris collisions in the orbital environment, we have carefully selected appropriate materials and made specialized designs. Additionally, the protection devices are designed to be easily and securely installed on the exterior of the space station, ensuring effective protection," said Li Zhihai, an aerospace engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
During their previous extravehicular mission in December, the Shenzhou-19 crew primarily installed protective devices for the external pipelines and cables of the Tianhe core module. Their second spacewalk put a focus on strengthening the Wentian lab module.
"Since the operational area for this mission differs from the previous one, the entire path planning process for the robotic arm must take into account the specific conditions around the Wentian module. It is essential to avoid any interference or collisions with the module itself or its solar panels. This requires maintaining a safe distance, which necessitates optimization in the design phase on the ground, along with extensive testing and validation," Li said.
The crew has completed all tasks smoothly and the two astronauts conducting the EVAs have returned to the Wentian lab module safely.
"The astronauts showed exceptional efficiency and speed throughout the entire process, and all installations were done perfectly," Li said.
The Shenzhou-19 crew have completed nearly half of their space journey and are scheduled to carry out a significant number of in-orbit scientific experiments and technological tests, according to the China Manned Space Agency.
Shenzhou-19 crew strengthens Tiangong station's debris protection in second spacewalk