Northern Lights - Continuous or Line Spectrum?

Question

The northern lights are the result of high energy particles coming from the sun striking atoms high in Earth's atmosphere. If you looked at the light through a spectrometer, would you expect to see a continuous or line spectrum? Explain.
Thanks :)

Answer 1

It will be a line spectrum. For the same reason you get a line spectrum from a neon light. It's just agitated gasses.

Answer 2

you are going to be complicated northern lighting fixtures furnishings with Saint Elmo's fire, the latter of this is a organic atmospheric corona discharge sometime seen on deliver masts. It crackles by way of fact its breaking down the air, which produces stress waves (an acoustic disturbance).