The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis are actually the collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere. The lights can be seen above the magnetic poles of the southern and northern hemisphere. They are known in the north as “Aurora Borealis” and “Aurora Australis” in the south.
These lights appear in different colors. Pale green and pink are the most common. These lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light streamers that light up the sky with an eerie glow.
Northern lights are most often seen at high latitudes such as Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Siberia and Iceland during maxima in the solar cycle. Aurora Borealis occur in the Earth’s ionosphere as a result from collisions between energetic electrons and atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere.
Different colors come from different atoms or ions. Green and red colors come from atomic oxygen. Pinkish-reds and blue-violet come from nitrogen ions and molecules. Purple comes from combined colors of nitrogen ions and helium. Neon produces the very rare orange color.
Northern lights are intense when viewed from space northern. They appear in an irregular oval shape that may not be visible to the naked eye. The lights of the Aurora generally extend for 80 kilometers or 50 miles to as high as 640 kilometers or 400 miles above the surface of the earth. Scientists have learned that in most instances, northern and southern auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time with similar shapes and colors.
Areas that are not subject to “light pollution” are the best places to witness the beauty of the lights. Aurora was derived from the Latin word “aurora “which means “sunrise”. Aurora Borealis also means the “dawn of the north” while the Aurora Australis means “the dawn of the south”.
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