What Creates The Northern Lights
Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding.
What creates the northern lights. The northern lights one of several astronomical phenomena called polar lights aurora polaris are shafts or curtains of colored light visible on occasion in the night sky. Auroras or aurorae sometimes referred to as polar lights aurora polaris northern lights aurora borealis or southern lights aurora australis is a natural light display in the earth s sky predominantly seen in high latitude regions around the arctic and antarctic. These northern and southern lights have fascinated frightened and inspired humans for centuries. The northern lights are caused by the interaction of the solar wind a stream of charged particles escaping the sun and our planet s magnetic field and atmosphere.
Aurora borealis the northern lights. In some north american inuit groups the lights are called aqsarniit football players and seen as spirits of the dead playing football with the head of a walrus. The northern lights are the result of this solar wind plunging into earth s atmosphere. Lcdr gary barone noaa corps ret photographer.
Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind. The northern lights and southern lights are a dazzling spectacle for skywatchers lucky enough to see them but fascinating science is behind what causes these impressive light shows. What causes the northern lights. The legend has elders warning children that the lights might come down and snatch them away.
Eleanor imster she was an integral part of the award winning earthsky radio series almost since it began until it ended in 2013. More recently photographers have gone to remarkable lengths to try and capture the beauty of these atmospheric events. This process creates the beautiful aurora or northern lights. Find out more about the science of the northern lights below.
The most common auroral color a pale yellowish green is produced. It takes just 40 hours for the particles to reach earth from the sun and create an aurora borealis. Unlike other phenomena of the night sky such as meteors and comets the auroras are. The auroras the aurora borealis or northern lights in the northern hemisphere and the aurora australis the southern lights in the southern hemisphere are brilliant natural spectacles that can be seen in the evening sky especially at higher latitudes.
The northern lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the earth s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun s atmosphere. Auroras around the solar system.