Otherwise known as the northern or southern lights, an aurora is light emitted by upper atmospheric particles as they interact with energized ones from the magnetosphere.

It's an awe-inspiring and otherworldly event that those living at high latitudes can experience often. In Cree and Ojibwe teachings, the northern lights are ancestral spirits who remain and communicate from the sky.

To scientists, the aurora is an infinitely complex amalgamation of ionospheric dynamics, a manifestation of Earth's intrinsic connection to the sun. To industry, it's a risk factor.

The Starlink destruction event

In February 2022, SpaceX launched 49 Starlink internet satellites into a low-Earth orbit (LEO). This was the 36th Starlink launch that SpaceX had carried out, and one that they anticipated to go off without a hitch, just like the 35 before.

On launch day, a coronal mass ejection—a large burst of plasma expelled from the sun—struck Earth. It caused a geomagnetic storm in the atmosphere between around 100 and 500 kilometers in altitude, the target range for Starlink.