The Northern Lights “A Natural Display of Beauty”
by Jeff Hurtigruten
The Northern Lights are often referred to as the Auroras & they occur as beautiful extraordinary displays natural light the sky. These can normally only be seen at night & what known as the Polar Regions. In those regions sometimes the lights are referred to as Polar Auroras or the Aurora Borealis. The closer one gets to the North Magnetic Pole the more vivid & beautiful the Northern Lights become.
While the northern lights usually appear high overhead when viewed from location close to the magnetic north pole as one moves further away form north pole this magnificent display natural light tends to illuminate the horizon from one end to the other marvellous greenish glow. Having said there are times when the northern lights appear to be more red colour rather than green. When one considers the way which these lights can appear to dance the night sky hardly surprising some people view them as being almost eerie way & this perhaps why they have been referred to as dance the spirits .
Even Benjamin Franklin theorized about why the Northern Lights occurred saying he thought was attributable to specific absorption electrical charges happened the polar regions which was intensified by moisture such as snow. In actuality the Northern Lights are created by an interaction between the solar wind & the earth s magnetic field. They are produced when charged particles such as electrons & protons collide with the molecules & atoms the earths upper atmosphere. This occurs at altitudes are above 50 miles.
Conclusive evidence shows these particles originate form sun & they arrive here the earth s vicinity as low energy solar winds. When this happens these particles become trapped within the magnetic field the solar wind itself. This then ends up connecting to the Earth s magnetic field before eventually entering into the magnetosphere where they are then propelled towards the earth.
The greenish glow & the red colours which are so characteristic the northern lights essentially due to the presence atomic oxygen nitrogen ions & molecular nitrogen. In fact the nitrogen ions also result pinks blues & even violet on occasions as the different gases interact with the atmosphere.
Sometimes the Northern Lights will contain folds or curtains the lights called striations though the change the observers perspective may even create beautiful corona composed divergent rays. Auroral arcs are then formed & those can best be seen moving toward the equator around midnight.
While may be uncommon the northern lights have been seen from various locations around the world & such have even made the headlines. Rather than being the norm this only happens at times when there s been an above average ejection coronal mass form sun.
NASA has accumulated wealth photographs this magnificent phenomenon. As you can imagine while may be beautiful to see from here on earth when seen from outer space the display even more spectacular.
About the Author:
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