An aurora is a natural phenomenon which is characterised by a display of a natural-coloured (green, red, yellow or white) light in the sky. It is a light show which is caused when electrically-charged particles from the sun collide with particles from gases such as oxygen and nitrogen present in the Earth’s atmosphere.
What are auroras simple definition?
An aurora is a natural light display that shimmers in the sky. Auroras are only visible at night, and usually only appear in lower polar regions.
How do you explain aurora to kids?
An aurora is a natural display of colored light in the night sky that occurs primarily in high latitudes of both hemispheres. Auroras in the Northern Hemisphere are called the northern lights, or aurora borealis.
What causes aurora simple explanation?
Bottom line: When charged particles from the sun strike atoms in Earth’s atmosphere, they cause electrons in the atoms to move to a higher-energy state. When the electrons drop back to a lower energy state, they release a photon: light. This process creates the beautiful aurora, or northern lights.
What is aurora borealis in short?
Answer. 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. Aurora borealis – the Northern Lights. Chena Hot Springs, Alaska, 2013.
Where are auroras found?
So the best places to see auroras are near the magnetic poles. These include areas of northern Greenland, the Scandinavian coast, Siberia (brrr!), and Alaska in the north, and Antarctica in the south.
How many auroras are there?
Depending on how you count, there are as many as 27 Auroras in existence today. They are found on both coasts and from Minnesota to Texas, but tend to favor the North for reasons I discovered as I traveled.
How do auroras affect Earth?
aurorae disturb the atmosphere and this affects radio waves that are communicating information around the world. The solar wind adds its own magnetic energy to that of the Earth and when they combine they can blow out electric wires and cables! The Earth’s atmosphere actually expands slightly when aurorae are around.
Can you see Northern Lights with naked eyes?
Can you see the Northern Lights with the naked eye? Yes. If the Northern Lights are strong enough you can see them with your naked eye. However, most photographs of the Northern Lights are taken with special camera setups, and at least a long shutter speed.
Can you see aurora from a plane?
Seeing the Northern Lights from a plane
Seeing the Northern Lights from thousands of feet in the air is a unique experience because the lights appear brighter from the sky than from the ground. It is also easier to see the subtle dancing movements that the lights make.
Why do the Northern Lights only happen in the north and south Pole?
Because, according to the theory of electromagnetism, charged particles are forced to travel only along magnetic field lines. They cannot travel across them or break free from them.
What’s another word for aurora?
In this page you can discover 20 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for aurora, like: magnetic storm, cockcrow, alpenglow, eos, daybreak, borealis, morn, dawning, dayspring, dawn and morning.
Are auroras same as northern lights?
The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are a spectacular, colourful display of light commonly seen in the night sky in the northern hemisphere. Auroras in the southern hemisphere are known as the southern lights, or aurora australis.
Where are auroras most visible?
Where is the best place to see the northern lights? The northern lights most commonly occur within the geographic area beneath the auroral oval. It encompasses latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees and takes in Iceland, northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Canada and Alaska as well as southern Greenland.
Who discovered the aurora?
scientist Galileo Galilei
In the early 17th century, the astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei named this phenomenon Aurora Borealis.
How can I see aurora?
To see the aurora borealis, you need to be in the right place at the right time and have the correct viewing conditions. The best time to see the northern lights are on dark, clear nights in the winter months and close to a New Moon. Generally, from September to April are the best viewing months.
How often do auroras occur?
“Active periods are typically about 30 minutes long and occur every two hours, if the activity is high. The aurora is a sporadic phenomenon, occurring randomly for short periods or perhaps not at all.”
Does aurora mean light?
‘Aurora borealis’, the lights of the northern hemisphere, means ‘dawn of the north’. ‘Aurora australis’ means ‘dawn of the south’. In Roman myths, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. par Many cultural groups have legends about the lights.
Does aurora mean sunrise?
Aurora originates in Latin language and means “sunrise”. In Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of dawn. It is also the name of a natural light display in the sky, specifically known as aurora borealis (northern lights) in northern latitudes.
What problems do auroras cause?
The high-energy particles can damage satellites in orbit around our planet, and threaten the safety of astronauts. They can even cause power black-outs down on the surface of Earth. The aurora isn’t unique to Earth. Some other worlds in our Solar System, such as Saturn and Jupiter, have magnetic fields too.
Can auroras cause damage?
The Northern Lights occur so high up in the atmosphere that they don’t pose any threat to people watching them from the ground. The aurora itself is not harmful to humans but the electrically charged particles produced could have some potentially negative effects to infrastructure and technology.