Have you ever seen Auroras, in movies or even in real life? Have you ever wondered how they are created? Auroras, often referred to as polar lights (aurora polaris), northern lights (aurora borealis, or southern lights (aurora australis), are actually natural lights that are usually seen in the Arctic and Antarctic areas of Earth.
Our sun releases something known as solar wind into space. The particles that are released with the solar wind are actually lethal. You might be wondering why aren’t we dead yet if the Earth is in space and because of this, we should be receiving solar wind? Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because the Earth has something called a magnetic field. This field is a type of oval that goes from the south pole, all around to the north pole. That would form a magnetic field on one side of the Earth, but what about the other? Well, there is actually another magnetic field, exactly the same as the first one, on the other side. With the magnetic field, most of the charged particles in the solar wind that hit Earth are deflected off of it, however some flow along the Earth’s magnetic field. As the Earth’s magnetic field is an oval, not all of the Earth is guarded by
it. After flowing along the magnetic field, the charged particles reach the Earth’s upper atmosphere and that is when they collide with nitrogen and oxygen. This causes them to deliver various colors of lights. These lights are known as Auroras. THe Northern lights occur so high up in the atmosphere that they don’t pose any threat to people watching them, however, they can have negative effects on infrastructure and technology. That is the science behind Auroras.
