? cause of the effect known as the northen lights?

Answer 1

It is called an Aurora.

An aurora is an electro-static phenomenon, characterised by a bright glow and caused due to the collision of charged particles in the magnetosphere with atoms in the Earth's upper atmosphere.

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. Australis is the Latin word for "of the South".

Answer 2

What causes them?
Northern lights originate from our sun. During large explosions and flares, huge quantities of solar particles are thrown out of the sun and into deep space. These plasma clouds travel through space with speeds varying from 300 to 1000 kilometers per second.

But even with such speeds (over a million kilometer per hour), it takes these plasma clouds two to three days to reach our planet. When they are closing in on Earth, they are captured by Earth's magnetic field (the magnetosphere) and guided towards Earth's two magnetic poles; the geomagnetic south pole and the geomagnetic north pole.



On their way down towards the geomagnetic poles, the solar particles are stopped by Earth's atmosphere, which acts as an effective shield against these deadly particles.

When the solar particles are stopped by the atmosphere, they collide with the atmospheric gases present, and the collision energy between the solar particle and the gas molecule is emitted as a photon - a light particle. And when you have many such collisions, you have an aurora - lights that may seem to move across the sky.

In order for an observer to actually see the aurora with the naked eye, about a 100 million photons are required.

Answer 3

Northern lights originate from the sun. During very large explosions and flares, huge quantities of solar particles are thrown out of the sun and into deep space. These plasma clouds travel through space with speeds varying from 300 to 1000 kilometers per second. Its amazing really.
But even with such speeds , it takes these plasma clouds two to three days to reach our Earth. When they are closing in on Earth, they are captured by Earth's magnetic field (the magnetosphere) and guided towards Earth's two magnetic poles; the geomagnetic south pole and the geomagnetic north pole. {the snow and ice are a variable in the northern lights also}
On their way down towards the geomagnetic poles, the solar particles are stopped by Earth's atmosphere, which acts as an effective shield against these deadly particles.
When the solar particles are stopped by the atmosphere, they collide with the atmospheric gases present, and the collision energy between the solar particle and the gas molecule is emitted as a photon - a light particle. And when you have many such collisions, you have an aurora - lights that may seem to move across the sky.

Answer 4

The lights occur when particles from the sun interact with the Earth's atmosphere. These particles are what's know as 'solar wind', and are quickly moving charged particles that are emitted from the Sun. The solar wind is very closely linked to the 11 year solar sunspot cycle and to solar flares. Most of the world is protected from these particles by the magnetic field of the earth, except the Poles. Here the solar wind can interact with the Earth's atmosphere.

When the charged particles collide with the Earth's air molecules, their energy is emitted as light. As the solar wind only interacts with the air at the Poles, this is where we see the lights, in a ring around the Poles called the 'auroral ovals'. When there are more particles travelling from the sun, the ring expands and northern lights have been reported in the UK. They are more common in the north of Scotland, as it is further north.

The lights occur very high above the Earth, usually over 40 miles high. This is even higher than jet planes fly, but the lights have been seen as high as 600 miles above Earth, which is even higher than space shuttles fly.

Answer 5

The solar wind. The charged particles in the solar wind are accelerated profoundly near the magnetic poles of the earth, producing the effects of the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis.

Answer 6

It's caused by charged particles in the 'Solar Wind' following the path of the Earths magnetic field and interacting with the top layers of the atmosphere. It also happens at the South pole.

Doug

Answer 7

Charged solar particles interacting with Earth's magnetic field.

Answer 8

wavelengths of light radiation refracted through the earths magnetic field

Answer 9

i dont know about that, but the northern lights are lots of colours in the sky. I have a paniting of the northern lights in my bedroom. Its some kind of natural phenomena, i think, but im not sure how it is caused.

Answer 10

solar radiation bouncing off the Earths magnetic field.