A photographer captured Venus giving off a brief ethereal green light in the sky above Sweden in what is considered a rare atmospheric optical phenomenon.
While attempting to capture images of the hellish planet and the moon rising over over Stockholm, Peter Rosen observed the shimmering flash that has only been seen a handful of times.
Green flashes of light are caused by light reflecting off the Earth’s atmosphere like a prism and only occurs on cold, clear nights because the crisper, cleaner air allows the light to escape.
For those who want to view Venus’ green aura, it could be possible by using a high-magnification setup, like a high-speed camera with a very large sensor.
By taking rapid photos in quick succession as Venus sets, it may be possible to capture the truly spectacular view.
Peter Rosen captured an image of a rare flash of green light coming off Venus
Peter Rosen took a photo of Venus next to the moon before he captured the rare phenomenon
However, the green lights are only visible on clear nights and when there are sharp temperature gradients in the air, like extreme cold or heat, that magnify one color over another.
Rosen told Spaceweather.com that he was able to capture the green flash ‘because of the extreme cold that still persists over southern Sweden.’
The green flash appeared when Venus tilted at an angle that was closer to the Earth’s horizon.
When this happens, the Earth’s atmosphere can act like a prism, splitting white lights into colors of red, green, yellow, orange and blue.
If the atmosphere was completely clean and devoid of pollution, blue would be the flash of color emitted from Venus.
However, because the air does contain pollutants, the second color that is reflected is green.
Photographer Paolo Palma capture this photo of Venus emitting the green light in the sky above Rome in 2018
Venus’ green light has only been captured a few times, with photographer Colin Legg capturing one of the most recent images in 2017, before Rosen’s 2024 photograph.
Another green flash on Venus was captured in Rome in 2018 by Paolo Palma who used his smartphone at the eyepiece of a 12-inch telescope which he magnified 76 times.
‘The planet was low on the horizon and its light looked like a long fiery bubble, with flames of red, orange, yellow, and green,’ said Palma at the time.
‘When Venus went below the horizon, the last ray was clearly green in color,’ he added.
Although other green flashes have been observed, Rosen’s photo of Venus ‘might be the best ever,’ according to Spaceweather.com.
