Aurora Borealis

THE PHENOMENA OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

WHAT IS AURORA BOREALIS
The northern lights, one of several astronomical phenomena called
polar lights (aurora borealis / australis), are shafts or curtains of
colored light visible on occasion in the night sky.

WHERE ALL ARE THESE LIGHTS VISIBLE ?

-They are more frequent at higher latitudes and places like Alaska, Canada, and
Antarctica, closer to the Earth’s poles. Occasionally, they have been seen closer to the
equator, and even as far south as Mexico. To view them, look in the direction of the
closest pole (the northern horizon in the northern hemisphere and the southern horizon in
the southern hemisphere).
So , what causes this phenomenon to occur
The light show we see from the ground is caused by electrically charged
particles from space entering the Earth’s upper atmosphere at a very
high speed.

These particles originate from our star - the sun. The sun is constantly
pushing out a stream of electrically charged particles called the solar wind,
and this travels out from the sun between 300 and 500 km per second in
all directions.

As the Earth travels around the sun, a small fraction of particles from the
solar wind are intercepted by the planet.Around 98% of these particles
are deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field, and continue their journey into
deep space. A small percentage of particles leak through the Earth’s
magnetic field and are funnelled downwards towards the Earth’s
magnetic North and South poles.
So , what causes this phenomenon to occur

When these charged particles hit the atoms and

molecules high up in our atmosphere, they become
excited. This creates two glowing rings of auroral
emission around the North and South magnetic poles,
known as auroral ovals.

As they decay back to their original state, they emit

distinctive colours of light. It’s this light we see when we
look at the Northern Lights.
Earlier myths related to this phenomena
For centuries, people have been sharing stories of the Northern Lights.
Without scientific understanding, our ancestors were forced to fill in the
gaps with fantastic stories of gods and monsters. These stories taught
people to respect, fear, or worship the lights in the sky. But as our
understanding of the solar system and our place within it grew, these
stories dissolved into legends and myths .

Today we know why the Northern (and Southern) Lights occur, but
that doesn’t mean there isn’t still more to learn.
Why can we see different colours
The Earth’s atmosphere is made up of different atoms, like oxygen and nitrogen, and it’s these
atoms that cause the colours we can see in the Northern Lights. These atoms become excited at
different levels in the atmosphere.

The most common colour seen in the Northern Lights is green. When the solar wind hits millions
of oxygen atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere at the same time, it excites the oxygen atoms for a
time and then they decay back to their original state, when they emit the green hue we can see
from the ground.

The red light we sometimes see is also caused by oxygen atoms. These particles are higher up
in the atmosphere and are subject to a lower energy red light emission. The red colour is always
there, but our eyes are five times less sensitive to red light than green, so we can’t always see it.

A large part of the Earth’s atmosphere is made up of nitrogen. The particles from the solar wind
must hit nitrogen atoms a lot harder in order to excite them. Once the nitrogen atoms begin to
decay, they emit a purple coloured light. This is quite a rare colour to see, and usually only
happens during a particularly active display.
FUN FACTS
1. SOME PEOPLE HEAR THEM.

According to scientists, the upper atmosphere where the lights occur is too thin to carry sound waves,

and the aurora is so far away that it would take a sound wave five minutes to reach ears on the ground.

Still, many people claim to hear whooshing and crackling noises when there is an aurora in the sky.

There's at least one case where a microphone detected audible sound associated with an aurora, and

recently, research groups in Denmark and Finland claim to have recorded sounds from the lights.
FUN FACTS

2.THE LIGHTS ARE TOURIST ATTRACTIONS.

The best viewing of the northern lights occurs in high northern latitudes during the winter, in places

like Fairbanks, Alaska; Dawson City, Yukon; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada; Gillam,

Manitoba, Canada; the southern tip of Greenland; Reykjavik, Iceland; Tromsø, Norway; and the

northern coast of Siberia (bundle up!). You need clear, dark skies, so take into account the weather,

times of sunrise and sunset, and the moon phase. Sightings are most likely during three or four hours

around midnight. Look in the direction of the closest pole.

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