Appearance of aurora borealis (known as northern lights) in Ukraine, Poland, and several other European countries, has ignited speculation in russia that it allegedly was the visual effect caused by the operation of yet another russian wunderwaffe, particularly the Peresvet system.
This is not the first time, though. Prior to this, their media tried to attribute Peresvet to the appearance of pillars of light over Belgorod in October 2022. Although a very rare one, it was still simply a natural phenomenon.
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And even if they could somehow tie the Peresvet system, officially described as a system for blinding optical reconnaissance satellites with a laser beam, to the light pillars, it seems implausible to find a connection between this equipment and the aurora.
Therefore, russian media started spreading rumors suggesting that this might be the work of a completely different kind of equipment, such as a powerful electronic warfare system. However, in practice, artificial northern lights were only created during the testing of nuclear weapons in near space in the 1950s.
Another time was during scientific experiments involving the injection of electrons into near space in the 1970s: under the Soviet project called Zarnitsa, and under the ARAKS research project in cooperation with France. These efforts resulted in subtle visual effects similar to the northern lights. There are no recordings of russia conduct any such activities yesterday, on November 5, or at any time before.
No artificial aurora borealis so far were created when powerful over-the-horizon radars or any other electromagnetic equipment were operating. On the contrary, the appearance of the northern lights over Ukraine has been recorded at least twice in the past year: on April 24 and yesterday, both of which can be explained by significant geomagnetic storms.
Furthermore, the northern lights shining in southern regions is not an unprecedented event in human history. For instance, in 1859, the most powerful known geomagnetic storm, the Carrington Event, occurred. It caused northern lights observed over most of the world, including tropical regions such as Cuba, Jamaica, and the Hawaiian Islands.
Nonetheless, this does not prevent russia from attempting to attribute absolutely natural phenomena to an unknown, highly secretive, and "one-of-a-kind" weapon.
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