What causes the Northern Lights?
Looking behind the scenes of nature’s lightshows
If you ever take a trip to the north pole, make sure you look up! Aurora borealis, also called the Northern Lights, is a dazzling array of colorful, flickering lights that stretch across different patches of sky.
The lesser known aurora australis also creates the same effect at Earth’s southern pole. However, you won’t be able to see the fluorescent phenomenon anywhere else beyond these poles.
This is due to Earth’s magnetic field or magnetosphere which is responsible for deflecting charged particles and harmful ultraviolet rays from entering our atmosphere.
These excited particles originate from the Sun, which is constantly producing waves of solar wind. The regular fluctuations in the solar wind’s intensity are also matched with appropriate changes in the magnetosphere.
As charged particles collide with the magnetosphere, breaching the atmosphere can initiate a procedure known as magnetic reconnection.
Magnetic reconnection can occur wherever charged gases, or plasma, is present. In Earth’s magnetosphere, the substantial traces of plasma make reconnection possible.
Plasma is a very unique form of matter. One of its unusual characteristics is the fact…
