What exactly is the Northern lights?

Question

is it an optical illusion or is it really there? What makes it look like that with the waves and the colors.

Answer 1

Also known as Aurora Borealus,if I spelled that correctly.Is the lightshow you get when you find the product of Solar Wind colliding with the ionosphere to form photons.
When atomic particles such as electrons collide with ions in the upper atmoshphere,atoms lacking one electron or having one extra electron there is often an effect of light which is the release of a photon which is a quanta(measurement) of energy that is discharged from the atomic shell(or forcefield).Much like a bow and arrow,the string being the shell,the bow being the force,and the arrow being the energyt particle,in this case a photon.The color is determined by the kinetic energy of the impact.In physics it is measured as the Balmer series,and two others which are the measurements of the atomic shell distortion that produces photons.

Answer 2

i didn't read the answer before i answered, what it is is the sun blowing away the magnatic field around the earth which protects from uv rays. it only can do this around the poles which the magnatic force is weaker. the actual light is how the sun reacts directly with the atomosphere. that is why it happens in the more northern and southern areas of the earth such as alaska.

Answer 3

Nothern lights can occur in the north and the south actually, Northern lights, you cant really touch them, they're not exactly tangible, so I gess you can call it an illusion caused by the light being reflected by the snow and water, causing the seven specturms of light that make up white light to be divided into rainbow like waves.
Long sentence, but its true, not as scientifically phrased as the one up there, but still true.

Answer 4

some people above have responded -- enable me furnish you with the easy version. The solar spits out a good number of junk because it burns. extensive chunks of electrically charged rely that come off are referred to as the image voltaic Wind. every time one in each and every of this fairly extensive chunks hits Earth, the magnetic container of our planet acts like a shield, deflecting each and all the junk in direction of the Northern and Southern poles. because of the fact the electrically charged rely slams into the ambience, it makes exceptionally lighting fixtures fixtures.

Answer 5

They are spectacular,shifting colours seen at high latitudes(over north pole).They are caused by charged solar-wind particles entering the upper atmosphere and being deflected towards the poles by the earth's magnetic field.As the particles spiral down the magnetic lines of force they bombard gas molecules,causing them to emit coloured light.

Answer 6

its there, its caused by a collision of charged particles in the magnetosphere, the particles (mostly electrons but some protons too) collide and excite emitting light in the process, the lights are shaped by magnetic field lines that cirlcle around the lights, which is what causes the lines you see (a phenomenon called filamentation, also occurs in lightning and plasma balls)

Answer 7

It is the sun peeking over the horizon.

Answer 8

It's something to do with electromagnetic things or something??