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Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis
The Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis, sometimes called The Northern and Southern Lights, are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. Auroras are most visible closer to the Poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field.
689 Questions
Where in Alaska can one see the Northern Lights best?
Go as far north as you can get and get as far away from any city lights.
Yes and they are a sight to behold.
How long does the Aurora Australis last?
Usually about one hour to two hours. A very faint Aurora lasts only a few minutes. Some auroras which are very strong otherwise known as "aurora storms" last for days, fading away and returning.
It all depends on our sun's activity.
Is aurora borealis visible from space?
For thousands of years people in the northern part of the world have marveled at the spectacular and fearful displays that occasionally light up the night sky.
There have been hundreds of stories and theories to explain these celestial lights what we now know as the aurora borealis or northern lights. But no one until about a century ago, suspected a connection with the sun.
Every northern culture has oral legends about the aurora, passed down for generations. During the viking period, northern lights were referred to as reflections from dead maidens.
The phenomenon was often referred to as a vengeful force. In ancient times, most people were afraid of the lights. Some people would not let their children outside to play while there were auroras, fearful they could get
killed.
The Vikings who lived in Norway a thousand years ago, named it the northern lights. In Norway children were often told that by waving with white clothing, the intensity of waving increased the motion of the aurora!
Early scienceThe strong aurora on March 6, 1716 could be observed in large parts of Europe and gave birth to more modern science. Sir Edmund Halley published the first detailed description of the aurora in that year.
He lamented that at the age of 60 years he had given up on experiencing this amazing phenomenon. He suggested that "auroral rays are due to the particles, which are affected by the magnetic field; the rays are parallel to earth's magnetic field."
Kristian Birkeland
A major breakthrough was made by an eccentric norwegian scientist - Kristian Birkeland, 1867-1917-who had a theory that charged particles from the sun could ignite auroras. To prove his theory-which is still valid today - he built his own world in a glass box, electrified his model earth with its own magnetic field and showed how particles from the sun could ignite auroras.
For thousands of years people in the northern part of the world have marveled at the spectacular and fearful displays that occasionally light up the night sky.
There have been hundreds of stories and theories to explain these celestial lights what we now know as the aurora borealis or northern lights. But no one until about a century ago, suspected a connection with the sun.
Every northern culture has oral legends about the aurora, passed down for generations. During the viking period, northern lights were referred to as reflections from dead maidens.
The phenomenon was often referred to as a vengeful force. In ancient times, most people were afraid of the lights. Some people would not let their children outside to play while there were auroras, fearful they could get
killed.
The sami (lapp) people called it guovssahas, the light you can hear. The eskimos in the northernmost parts of Canada believed that the northern lights were created by spirits, which, dressed in the mystical light, were having fun because the sun is away, that they were playing soccer with a walrus skull. The rapidly moving auroras were called the dance of death.
The Vikings who lived in Norway a thousand years ago, named it the northern lights. In Norway children were often told that by waving with white clothing, the intensity of waving increased the motion of the aurora!
The strong aurora on March 6, 1716 could be observed in large parts of Europe and gave birth to more modern science. Sir Edmund Halley published the first detailed description of the aurora in that year.
He lamented that at the age of 60 years he had given up on experiencing this amazing phenomenon. He suggested that "auroral rays are due to the particles, which are affected by the magnetic field; the rays are parallel to earth's magnetic field."
A major breakthrough was made by an eccentric norwegian scientist - Kristian Birkeland, 1867-1917-who had a theory that charged particles from the sun could ignite auroras. To prove his theory-which is still valid today - he built his own world in a glass box, electrified his model earth with its own magnetic field and showed how particles from the sun could ignite auroras.
Do the northern aurora lights shine in the summer?
The Aurora Borealis (Northern lights) and the Aurora Australis (Southern lights) both "shine" all year round. They are caused by energized particles from the sun striking the Earth's Magnetosphere.
When was Aurora borealis seen in UK?
In Scotland, yesterday and the day before. On August 1, 2010, the Sun belched out a fairly substantial "coronal mass ejection" or CME. When a CME hits the Earth and interacts with the Earth's magnetic field (generally about 3 days after the eruption), we frequently see auroras at one or both polar regions. A strong CME, like this one, can generate auroras down to the mid-latitudes. In this case, auroras were seen as far south as Iowa.
As the Sun comes out of its long "solar minimum", we can expect to see auroras more often at high latitudes.
Why are auroras not always visible from temperate regions?
The aurora may be "beyond the curvature" of the earth. Additionally, they can be subtle. When lacking extreme brightness, they could be "unseeable" or missed or lost in "light pollution" to a viewer at moderate latitude. Certainly when a large magnetic storm is in progress, viewing latitude is more favorable to the viewer. Just such a large event on the sun in 1994 put observers at 47 degrees south latitude in a position to watch things. Wow! What a show that must have been! Got a link for ya if'n ya wan it.
What is the meaning of the name Aurora?
Aurora is the Latin word for dawn, the goddess of dawn and the morning light in Roman mythology and Latin poetry. Aurora is comparable to the Greek goddess Eos, though Aurora did not bring with her any resonance of a greater archaic goddess.
Also Auroras are natural colored light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar zone.
How are auroras frequently seen?
They are seen a bands of light in the sky. In the polar regions these bands are usually bright green in color and at lower latitudes more frequently seen as reddish glows.
What two factors determine the color of an aurora?
- The height above the earth that the charged particle from the sun collides with the gas atom.
- Which gas atom is involved in the collision.
- High up oxygen emits red
- Lower oxygen gives green
- Low down oxygen gives out no light
- Nitrogen gives out blue or red wherever it is.
Where in Australia can you view Aurora australis?
No, you cannot see Polaris, the North Star, from Australia, which is in the southern hemisphere. In fact, it would be difficult to see Polaris from anyplace south of about 10 degrees north latitude, because objects close to the horizon are difficult to see.
Coloured glows called auroras are common around the Earth's polar regions. They are caused by streams of particles from the sun that are attached to the magnetic poles as the particles hit the earth's upper atmosphere they cause atoms of gas to glow. Auroras can look like huge curtains hanging in the sky, slowly changing shape. Sometimes they are seen over a much wider area, particularly when the sunspot activity is high.
Auroras are created at both the North and South magnetic poles.
In the north it is called the Aurora Borealis and in the south it's called the Aurora Australis.
This is caused by the solar wind interacting with the earth's magnetic field and our atmosphere.
in cases of strong solar storms, the Auroras can be seen much farther from the poles.
Auroras are produced by interactions among thermospheric gases and free electrons
What other information about the earths atmosphere can you derive from the graph?
what is the basis for the division of earth's atmosphere
Where can you see the northern lights in the United States?
The one state where you can see the Northern Lights easily is Alaska. On very rare occasion, the Northern Lights can be seen as far south as St. Louis, but generally speaking, it is unusual to see them much south of Central Canada. I live in southern Michigan, am in my 60s, and I have seen the Northern Lights here exactly twice in my life.
That depends on the space weather affecting our planet. This changes the latitude at which the lights may be seen and therefore the states it can be seen from.
How is an Aurora boealis different from an Aurora austealis?
The aurora boealis is in the northern hemisphere, the aurora austealis is in the southern hemisphere.
The aurora boreails is caused by the?
When charged particles from the sun strike atoms in Earth's atmosphere, they cause electrons in the atoms to move to a higher-energy state. When the electrons drop back to a lower energy state, they release a photon: light. This process creates the beautiful aurora, or northern lights.
What is it called when particles from the sun strike atoms in the ionosphere near the poles?
The described activity causes the generation of the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis.
Why is the aurora Borealis or northern lights are visible in the in the Nordic nations?
Because the Nordic area is one region where the Earth Magnetic field's inclination is steep to vertical.
