In some areas, such as Alaska or Greenland, they may be visible most nights of the year. For others, they're fearsome ghosts. Venus and Mars also have auroras, of a sort. On a very basic level, the phenomenon is quite simple to explain. These are external links and will open in a new window. They called it sillblixt – or ‘herring flash’ – and saw it as a sign of a good haul to follow. The electrically charged plasma is mainly made up of electrons and protons that have been pushed outwards from the centre of the sun. Couple this with the fact that the human eye is most able to identify the colour green and it’s no surprise that this is the most dominant colour we associate with the Northern Lights Above 150 miles, where the solar particles react with Oxygen at higher altitudes, red light becomes visible.
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In Fairbanks itself, residents see the northern lights on about eight of every 10 nights, Deehr said. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Russia, by contrast, "is pretty much out," Deehr said. By Sophie Lewis September 22, 2020 / 2:08 PM / CBS News Auroras usually occur in a band called the annulus (a ring about 1,865 miles across) centred on the magnetic pole. Yes. The Old Norse word for the aurora borealis is norðrljós, or ‘Northern Lights’, as used in the Konungs skuggsjá. For some people, they're 'proof' that the earth is flat. Ideally, time your trip to coincide with the new moon, and make sure to get away from city lights when it's time to look up, he added. The Canadian Space Agency offers a live feed of the skies above Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax.

It has its own solar magnetic field that it carries through space. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. This means that in addition to hunting for the northern lights, you can go winter fishing, hiking, skiing, and dog sledding, experience the Sami culture, or join a whale or wildlife safari. Visit our corporate site. The Earth’s magnetic field is an invisible shield around the Earth created by magnetic forces flowing from the South Pole to the North Pole.

Editor's note: If you capture an amazing photo of the northern lights and would like to share it with Space.com and our news partners for a story or gallery, send images to spacephotos@space.com. Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, and telegraph operators reported receiving electric shocks. Or a traveler could take a train across the auroral zone to the town of Churchill in Manitoba on the western shore of Hudson Bay — an area famous for its polar bear population. There are also plenty of options for good aurora viewing in North America. Here are some of Northern Norway’s hot spots. The green colour of the aurora comes from charged particles colliding with oxygen atoms, the red from both oxygen and nitrogen, and the purple-pinks and blues from nitrogen. ", Cowen, Robert C. "How northern lights affect your local power and light. Price: Browse other issues. It diverts the solar wind around the Earth, but as the solar wind’s magnetic field meets the Earth’s magnetic field on the dark side of the Earth, pointing away from the Sun, the fields merge and some of the charged particles are funnelled back towards the poles where they meet the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Some displays are particularly spectacular and widespread and have been highlighted in news accounts. How much do you know about the Northern Lights? Displays may take many forms, including rippling curtains, pulsating globs, traveling pulses, or steady glows. But you should probably steer clear of far eastern Canada, which tends to be quite cloudy, Deehr said. So, what are the northern lights? The most spectacular light shows are caused by powerful solar winds created by a solar storm – a mass ejection of plasma via solar flares. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. The solar cycle, which lasts on average for about 11 years, has been observed for centuries. The aurora borealis usually appears about 90 to 130km above the Earth.

". To view them, look in the direction of the closest pole (the northern horizon in the northern hemisphere, the southern horizon in the southern hemisphere). Above 150 miles (240 km) ruby reds appear. Blue violet/reds occur below 60 miles (100 km), with bright green strongest between 60-150 miles (100-240 km). Astronomers find "northern lights" surrounding Rosetta's famous comet for the first time. Northern lights are also called by their scientific name, aurora borealis, and southern lights are called aurora australis. The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shines above Bear Lake. Auroras have been observed since ancient times. The northern lights occur as a consequence of solar activity and result from collisions of charged particles in the solar wind colliding with molecules in the Earth's upper atmosphere. The earliest depiction of the Northern Lights may be in the cave paintings of Cro-Magnon man, in about 30,000 BC. The Solar Storm of 2012 was thought to be of a comparable magnitude but the solar wind from it missed the Earth. When these field lines "snap back" into position, charged particles from the solar wind are again pushed into the Earth's atmosphere, causing aurora. "In general, Scandinavia is set up," Deehr told Space.com.


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