The Sun has been punching holes in the Earth’s magnetic field lately – but that’s not as alarming as it sounds. Instead, they have been sparking magnificent light shows across Europe and North America, made up mainly of crimson auroras and sustained periods of red sky. The displays have been caused by disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field, which happened after a massive ejection of plasma from the Sun came hurtling our way. The event, known as a coronal mass ejection, made a hole in the planet’s magnetic field, allowing highly charged particles to make their way in and cause a geomagnetic storm. Normally, the Northern Lights are made up of mainly green, with the occasional flash of other colours including red. However, longer periods of red light shows are very rare. The highly charged particles then get channelled towards the north and south poles, where they interact with gas molecules in the atmosphere. They, in turn, release photons, causing the aurora borealis in the north and aurora australis in the south. Normally, the Northern Lights are made up of mainly green, with the occasional flash of other colours including red. However, longer periods of red light shows are very rare. But what makes this geomagnetic storm different is that the particles coming from the Sun collided with oxygen atoms higher in the Earth’s atmosphere than normal. The altitude at which this interaction happens dictates the colour of the aurora. This time, the charged particles were between 300 and 400 kilometres in the sky. There, the oxygen is less concentrated and doesn’t need as much energy to cause it to react. It all adds up to a flash of crimson red light in the sky. Somewhat excitingly for aurora-watchers, this sort of event is likely to get more common over the next two years, as the Sun’s activity becomes heightened until its peak in roughly July 2025. Looks like there will be more of these incredible ruby light shows soon enough. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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TikTok star Breckie Hill claimed she is being “sued” by her ex-partner amid a recent Snapchat leak. The 20-year-old social media star addressed the ongoing issues of videos leaking from her phone, revealing in a TikTok that her mobile phone number had been shared online, and she was being bombarded with calls from her millions of fans. But it’s not the first time the influencer has been hacked. In fact, in one TikTok she claimed it is the third time it has happened to her. In another since-deleted video, she addressed the situation. According to HITC, Hill uploaded a video on 26 July in which she alleged her former partner is suing her over leaked files, which many have presumed to contain intimate content. She wrote: “POV your ex is now trying to sue you for being in something that was leaked which wasn’t even your fault.” Hill has deleted four recent videos from her TikTok that reference the leaks. In one of them, she claimed there were a total of 709 files that has been compromised. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter @breckiehill_ Responding to one commenter who suggested that Hill had leaked the files herself, she replied: “This comment is actually really disturbing to me. Why would I purposefully cause myself stress, anxiety, and tears to put photos of me as a child on the internet, including my number, including my email?” She added: “Maybe you should be more considerate next time and try putting yourself in that position.” @breckiehill Replying to @Alissa?? According to reports, Hill is working with a private investigator to discover the person that hacked her account and leaked the content to bring them to justice since she is only 17 years old in some of the images. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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