How bright are comets?

Answer 1

Northern LightsThere is no difinitive brightness to the aurora. The total brightness is in many millions of watts in terms of light produced but in local terms the brightness depends on the following factors:

1, The 11 year solar cycle varies the volume of charged particles emitted by the sun. In other words, the solar wind is not constant.

2, The time of year, whether the northern hemisphere is pointed toward or away from the sun. In NH summer, the NH points toward the sun so the interaction between the atmosphere is more excited but, the nights are much shorter and, in fact non-existant for several weeks. so total out put is low. In NH winter, the NH points away from the sun so the light is less bright but it lasts much longer because the sky is dark for weeks.

3. The latitude: The magnetic field is stronger closer to the poles. Sometimes the aurorae can be seen further south when solar flare activity is high.

Answer 2

Northern lights is the name of a light phenomenon (aurora borealis) often seen in northern regions.

The lights have been around since Earth formed an atmosphere, the dinosaurs saw it, early humans saw it and our descendants will see it. The scientific name for the phenomenon is "Aurora Borealis", aurora for short.

Go as far north as you can go for the best views and you must be away from ambient lighting for a decent view.

Charged particles from the Sun are accelerated by the Earth's magnetic field and the collisions these particles have with atoms of Nitrogen and Oxygen in the upper atmosphere (60 - 90 km up) excite the electrons of the atoms, when the electrons fall back to a lower excitation state they emit light we see this light as the aurora.

Answer 3

Comets have no light bearing capability. A comet is made up of usually a metallic core covered in much more ice. The ice is always very dirty and full of dust and dirt like substances. The light you see is light being reflected from other sources upon the surface of the comet. Much like how we see the moon. The "tail" you see is ice melting away as the comet nears an energy source.

Answer 4

It depends on what your definition of 'big' is, as they can cover the entire sky if your lucky, and sometimes a particular colour can stretch as far as the eye can see.

Answer 5

The Northern Lights appear in the ionosphere which is the highest layer of the atmosphere, more than 50 miles (80 km) above the earth.

Answer 6

The size of an area or 1 fourths of the sky .

Answer 7

The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis occurs in the Earths ionosphere which is about 85k -> 600K above the surface of the Earth.

Answer 8

In absolute terms, some are brighter than our Sun - in some rare cases, millions of times brighter - while others are much less bright than our Sun.

Answer 9

Above 80 km!

Answer 10

Between 35 miles and 600 miles