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Article by: Lehashini A/P Ramanesh
It truly is a dream to see the Aurora Borealis, or more famously known as the Northern Lights. With its magical aura and glowing swirls of colors, the Northern Lights is a sight to behold. Curiously, how is this immense beauty formed?
Let’s think of a competitive race of 150 million kilometers between the electrically charged particles flowing from the Sun. After a few days, the particles travel at different speeds and some reach the Earth’s magnetic field which we can imagine as the finish line. Like a funnel, the particles travel down the north and south magnetic poles and are transported into the regions known as the Auroral Ovals. Here’s the finale- how the glowing light is produced. For example, the race has an accident so in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, the incoming particles collide with atoms and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen which stimulates them to produce the light of Aurora. It turns out that every type of atom or molecule such as carbon dioxide radiates its own unique set of colors; for instance, a hue of red is produced by the nitrogen molecules and a hue of green is produced by oxygen molecules.
Some people think that the auroras are useless and just emit beauty. In fact, hidden in their allure is the resourcefulness when it tells us about the Earth’s upper atmosphere such as the density, composition, flow speeds, and the strength of electrical currents flowing in the upper atmosphere. It is essential for protecting the Earth and technologies in space from hazards of “space weather” (the variations in the space environment between the sun and Earth).
If you are thinking that you will never see the Aurora Borealis, don’t fret! The aurora appears in the Arctic skies from late August to mid-April especially when the nights are darker than usual. Anytime between 10 pm to 2 am, the brilliant greenish-yellow light illuminates strongly across the sky.
With all this enlightening information in mind, countless scientists have studied and witnessed this exciting phenomenon of the night sky (a dream job). There are many countries to marvel at the Northern Lights such as Iceland, Alaska, Canada, Norway, and many more. I guess we have a hint about your next vacation destination. 😉
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