"Aurora Sprites" Sighted over New Zealand

Source - Space Weather News for March 4, 2017: http://spaceweather.com

"AURORA SPRITES" SIGHTED OVER NEW ZEALAND:  For the past few days, Earth has been moving through a stream of solar wind gusting with speeds of 700+ km/s.  Last night in New Zealand, the stream produced an unusual display of "aurora sprites" above the Otago Peninsula.  Visit Spaceweather.com to see the apparition and to learn what probably caused it.

ARCTIC SPACE WEATHER BALLOON LAUNCH: This coming week, Spaceweather.com will be flying to Sweden with a group of student researchers to launch a series of space weather balloons inside the Arctic Circle.  Near-simultaneous launches in the USA and Chile will allow us to probe the global response of our planet to rising levels of cosmic radiation in the inner solar system.  Today's edition of Spaceweather.com highlights the science of this mission--and whets our appetite for some very unusual photos of the Northern Lights.