A Barbie World: Aurora lights color sky Barbie pink above Ottawa

OTTAWA, Canada – Even Earth’s atmosphere is joining the hot pink Barbie trend.

A colorful display of the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, turned the sky above Ottawa, Canada, bright pink on Aug. 4.

Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights, happen in the Northern Hemisphere and are caused when charged particles from the Sun create solar wind that eventually crashes into Earth’s atmosphere.

A timelapse video captured by astrophotographer Andrea Girones shows the dancing lights go from yellow to green, eventually covering the sky in a bright swath of blush.

The color of the lights will vary from green or yellow to red, pink and purple, depending on the type of gas molecules in Earth’s magnetic field.

The lights were incredibly bright considering the nearly full Moon, which can sometimes wash out the appearance of the Aurora lights. The full Sturgeon Supermoon happened on Aug. 1. 

According to the National Weather Service Space Weather Prediction Center, strong to moderate geomagnetic storm conditions were forecast through Saturday night after a coronal mass ejection (CME) took several days to arrive from the Sun. 

Solar wind can cause geomagnetic storms and Aurora lights, but the more intense geomagnetic storms come from solar CMEs when the sun releases a billion tons of plasma and hits Earth’s magnetic field. 

The following year could see more aurora lights further away from the poles. 

More solar eruptions are expected as the Sun is amid an active period in its solar cycle, which lasts 11 years. Solar maximum, or peak activity, is expected next year.