what are the northern lights?

Question

I have no clue what this is I think it is something that occurs in nature does anyone have a breif discription or personal experience?

Answer 1

beautiful changing colours,in the sky i have seen them twice in my life time and the sight of these will stay with me forever ,its the most beautiful thing ive ever seen the colours are out of this world ,its so hard to say what they are you will be best off looking it up ,you wont regreat it .this is the sort of thing dreams are made of

Answer 2

Northern lights ( Aurora Borealis ) refers to the glowing in the upper atmosphere surrounding the North pole, due to high energy particles from the sun interacting and ionizing gases at high altitude. This occurs around the poles because of the earth's magnetic field.

There is also an aurora in the southern Hemisphere, called Aurora Australis

Answer 3

They are the Aurora Borealis.

Amazing . Breathtaking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Borealis

The aurora is a bright 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 the aurora borealis (IPA /ɔˈɹɔɹə bɔɹiˈælɪs/), 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 since it is only visible in the North sky from the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April. Its southern counterpart, aurora australis, has similar properties.

Answer 4

They are also known as the aurora borealis (The southern hemisphere equivalent is the aurora australis)

They occur when there are large storms on the sun which eject charged particles into space. Some get caught in our earth's magnetic field as they travel past the earth and follow the lines of force down through the atmosphere causing it to glow in a spectacular coloured display.

Opposite charged particles are attracted to opposite poles and so the two aurorae are different.

They are best witnessed as you get nearer to the poles.

Answer 5

It is very simple. The solar winds are coming at us over 100,000 mph. all ionized particles and are attracted to the poles. The beta particles are attracted to the north pole and that makes it negative. The alfa particles are attracted to the south pole and makes it positive. This huge charge across the world formers the O3 Van Allen belt which protects from the radiation. There are a few particles that blow a hole in the ozone layer near the poles and when the solar winds particles coming it is ionized and that is the northern lights.

Answer 6

They are caused by light from the sun being reflected by the ionosphere of Earth's magnetic field. The lights are the visual affect of this electron interaction. The northern lights are called auroras in the north, but called by another name in the south.

Answer 7

Northern Lights occur as a result of salor particles colliding with the gases in Earth's atmosphere.

Here's a really cool web-site that explains it.
http://www.northern-lights.no/english/what/cause.shtml

Answer 8

They are the Auroras.
They are originated by the interaction of the solar wind particles with the Earth magnetic field poles and the particles in the higher atmosphere which become electrically charged and emit light.

Answer 9

A light spectacle that occurs in the northern hemisphere such as Alaska!

Answer 10

Aurora borealis ---Northern lights
Aurora australis---Southern lights
= Streamers of light in the night sky