What is the "Northern Lights" and where are they?

Question

I've heard about aeeing the Northern Lights , but what is it and where can you see them from? From where do the different colors come from?

Answer 1

The aurora is a glow observed in the night sky, usually in the polar zone. For this reason some scientists call it a "polar aurora" (or "aurora polaris"). In northern latitudes, it is known as "aurora borealis" which is named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora and the greek name for north wind, Boreas since in Europe especially, it often appears as a reddish glow on the northern horizon as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis is also called the "northern lights". The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and March to April. Its southern counterpart, "aurora australis", has similar properties

Answer 2

Well, the aurora occurs not only in the northern skies, but in the southern as well. It is not a phenomenom that occurs due to the magnetic field of the earth, but rather lack thre of. You see, there is no magnetic field at the poles, and that is why it is possible to see them clearly.
The sun emits very powerful radiation which is blocked partially by the atmosphere, and partially by the magnetic field, so in areas of no magnetic field, it is only our atmosphere which protects us. In the atmosphere there are billions of particles and compounds floating around, and when the sun's radiation hits these particles they become excited and they vibrate and rotate. This, along with the constant movements of the air in the atmosphere creates the movements of the Northern Lights.
The colours which are seen are usually light green, white, and light blue. This is due to those molecules mentioned above. Different elements emit different colours when they are in their excited state (heated up), like the ones which give us the Northern Lights. Now, if I remember correctly, Hydrogen is the most common element in the atmoshere, and so that is where the light green colours come from, and things like Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Helium give off other colours like purple, orange, red, and yellow. If you have access to a lab, you can try this out; take some chemicals or solids containing these common elements, and place them in the flame of a bunsen burner. As the elements or compounds heat up, you'll notice that the flame will turn a different colour based upon which element you put in.
Back to the Northern Lights, if you haven't experienced them for yourself, I suggest you take a trip somewhere where you can see them. They truly are brilliant!

Answer 3

The aurora borealis and australis cannot be accounted by means of electricity because electricity does not behave the way the auroras do if it was truly electrical in nature it would react more like lightning does. Also the variations in color and waves of green reddish hues to blue is quite spectacular. The auroras have not been fully understood if they are coming from above or below the sky. The true nature of the auroras lies inside the earth where the earths central sun is shining through the polar openings. This can also be accounted for when observing the planets like mars when bright lights appear at the ice caps of mars which cannot be explained by the ice reflecting the light back to earth. The light is more of a yellowish hue that can only be accounted for by the polar openings. This explains the idea of the auroras easily because it has a natural source of light and openings to create the polar variations we observe.

Answer 4

northern lights are aurora borealis, or just aurora. You need to be in northern lattitudes to see them (like iceland or alaska) although they have been spotted as far south as mexico. Charged particles from the Sun (the solar wind) get deflected up to the poles of the earth by the earth's magnetic field. There, the particles energize the air molecules (mostly nitrogen and oxygen) and cause electrons to fly off. When the electrons re-attach themselves, they release a tiny bit of light. As for the different colors, not sure, but it's the same principle as a neon light so I imagine it has something to do with which element gets energized by the particles.

Answer 5

The aurora borealis (northern lights) and aurora australis (southern lights) are caused by cosmic particles interacting with the Earth's atmosphere. The different colours come from light emitted by particles as they interact.

You can see the Northern Lights as far south as northern Scotland, but they're more impressive the further north you are.

Answer 6

Northern lights are a natural phenomenom(sp?) that occurs mostly in central to northern Alaska from Oct. - April. It's gases from the atmosphere that causes this. It also happens in Northern Montana and Canada and I've heard other parts of the world.

Answer 7

The northern lights, scientific name Aurora Borealis, occur as a result of solar particles colliding with the earths atmosphere.The particles are generated during large flares on the sun throw them out deep into space.

Go here to read more

http://www.northern-lights.no/

Answer 8

Here are some websites that can help you with this:

http://www.northern-lights.no/

http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/Curtis/curtis.html

http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/Curtis/aurora/aurora.html

Also just so you know. There is also something called the Southern Lights. Yes, the same thing expect they occur near the South Pole. Both are due to Solar Flares and the Earth's Magnetic Field the surrounds the planet and keeps the really harmful junk from frying the surface.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/magnetic.html

Answer 9

The "Northern Lights" are the Aurora Borealis. The occur over the north pole and are usually visible in the winter months.

Answer 10

The northern lights are also called the aurora borealis, visible mainly north of the arctic circle (so, Canada, parts of Alaska, parts of sweden).

What it is is the earth's magnetic field intercepting solar wind. Solar wind is supercharged particles that have been expelled from the sun. They strike the magnetic field that surrounds the earth, and release energy in the form of light.