Frequently there are beautiful light shows in the sky. These lights are called auroras. If you’re near the North Pole, it is called an aurora borealis or northern lights. If you’re near the South Pole, it is called an aurora australis or the southern lights.
What is special about aurora?
The aurora borealis – otherwise known as the northern lights – is a vivid demonstration of the Earth’s magnetic field interacting with charged particles from the sun. It’s also beautiful, and worth braving a cold night out when visiting the high northern (or southern) latitudes.
What makes aurora beautiful?
The reason that the aurora appears in so many colors is that our atmosphere is made up of many different compounds, such as Oxygen and Nitrogen, among others. When the charged particles that come from the sun hit the atoms and molecules of Earth’s atmosphere, they excite those atoms, which then give off light.
What can you say about aurora borealis?
Polar lights (aurora polaris) are a natural phenomenon found in both the northern and southern hemispheres that can be truly awe inspiring. Northern lights are also called by their scientific name, aurora borealis, and southern lights are called aurora australis.
What does aurora symbolize?
Symbolism and Importance of Aurora
She symbolized new beginnings and the opportunities that the new day offers. Today, her name is present in the stunning aurora borealis. People believe that these magical colors and light effects come from Aurora’s mantle as she rides across the sky.
Are the Northern Lights beautiful?
One of the most renowned natural phenomena in the world are the gorgeous dancing Northern Lights. Rich, vibrant colours glitter and light up the night sky in a display of natural beauty. Most commonly seen are the hues of pink and pale green, but red, yellow, blue and violent have also been captured.
What makes the Northern Lights glow?
When the electrons reach Earth’s thin upper atmosphere, they collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules, sending them into an excited state. The excited electrons eventually calm down and release light, which is what we see as the aurora.
What is aurora night?
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.
How are auroras formed?
Auroras happen when particles from the Sun interact with gases in our atmosphere, causing beautiful displays of light in the sky. Auroras are often seen in areas near the North Pole or South Pole. If you’re ever near the North or South Pole, you may be in for a very special treat.
What is another word for northern lights?
The aurora borealis
The aurora borealis is the shimmering display of lights that sometimes appears in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. The phenomenon is also commonly called the northern lights. An aurora is a natural light display in the sky that is caused by particles from the sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field.
Does aurora mean beauty?
In Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of sunrise, so it’s no surprise that Disney plucked this name from the stars for its own Sleeping Beauty.
How do you use aurora in a sentence?
The sky also was lit by a diffuse background Aurora. We had a lovely evening with the best Aurora I have seen, and then the brightest stars.
What is aurora the god of?
Aurōra (Latin: [au̯ˈroːra]) is the Latin word for dawn, and the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry.
When can we see Northern Lights?
In order to see the Northern Lights, you need a dark, clear night. They are visible from late August to early April anytime during dark hours, which in places like Abisko or Tromsø can be nearly 24 hours a day in winter.
Can you see aurora during the day?
“Our own planet has auroras 24 hours a day,” says Jim Spann of the Marshall Space Flight Center, “and we can see them even in broad daylight.” The trick, he explains, is picking the right wavelength. “If we look at Earth from space using an ultraviolet (UV) filter, we see there are auroras underway at all times.
Where is the best place to see Northern Lights?
What are the best places to see the Northern Lights?
- Tromso, Norway. Based in the heart of the aurora zone in the Norwegian Arctic, the city is widely regarded as one of the world’s best places to see the Northern Lights.
- Swedish Lapland.
- Reykjavik, Iceland.
- Yukon, Canada.
- Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland.
- Ilulissat, Greenland.
How often do auroras happen?
“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.”
Where can auroras be 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.
Where are the aurora 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.
Why are auroras only visible at night?
Even though auroras are best seen at night, they are actually caused by the Sun. The Sun sends us more than heat and light; it sends lots of other energy and small particles our way. The protective magnetic field around Earth shields us from most of the energy and particles, and we don’t even notice them.
What causes the colors of the aurora?
The unique colors of light produced by a gas are called its “spectrum”. The auroral lights’ colors are determined by the spectra of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, and the height at which the most collisions take place. Incoming particles tend to collide with different gases at different heights.