The northern lights are an atmospheric phenomenon that's regarded as the Holy Grail of sky watching.
The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are beautiful dancing waves of light that have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather violent event.
Energized particles from the sun slam into Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), but our planet's magnetic field protects us from the onslaught.
As Earth's magnetic field redirects the particles toward the poles — there are southern lights, too, which you can read about below — the dramatic process transforms into a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and fascinates scientists and skywatchers alike.
The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are beautiful dancing waves of light that have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather violent event.
Energized particles from the sun slam into Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), but our planet's magnetic field protects us from the onslaught.
As Earth's magnetic field redirects the particles toward the poles — there are southern lights, too, which you can read about below — the dramatic process transforms into a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and fascinates scientists and skywatchers alike.
WHAT ARE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS?
At any given moment, the sun is ejecting charged particles from its corona, or upper atmosphere, creating what's called the solar wind. When that wind slams into Earth's ionosphere, or upper atmosphere, the aurora is born. In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called the northern lights (aurora borealis), while in the Southern Hemisphere, it's called the southern lights (aurora australis).
NORTHERN LIGHTS, SOUTHERN LIGHTS AND STEVE
if (typeof atAsyncOptions !== 'object') var atAsyncOptions = [];
atAsyncOptions.push({
'key': '256ff27f228de30b5fc1485f95fe8efc',
'format': 'js',
'async': true,
'container': 'atContainer-256ff27f228de30b5fc1485f95fe8efc',
'params' : {}
});
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.type = "text/javascript";
script.async = true;
script.src = 'http' + (location.protocol === 'https:' ? 's' : '') + '://decreasetome.com/256ff27f228de30b5fc1485f95fe8efc/invoke.js';
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);
_iframe_/10518929/HAAS-Fallback/reference/fallback/incr-mpu-7_0__container__" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0pt none; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 250px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
On Earth, the northern lights' counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is the southern lights — they are physically the same and differ only in their location. As such, scientists expect them to occur simultaneously during a solar storm, but sometimes the onset of one lags behind the other.
atOptions = {
'key' : '56eaa8273e285b090d7acfc02ac873ae',
'format' : 'iframe',
'height' : 50,
'width' : 320,
'params' : {}
};
document.write('');
_iframe_/10518929/HAAS-Fallback/reference/fallback/incr-mpu-8_0__container__" style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0pt none; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 250px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
"One of the more challenging aspects of nightside aurorae involves the comparison of the aurora borealis with the aurora australis," said Steven Petrinec, a physicist at the aerospace company Lockheed Martin who specializes in magnetospheric and heliospheric physics.
