Our mood lightens up when we see wonderful colors in the sky. Most of the time it is due to the interaction between light rays and the particles suspended/clouds in the atmosphere. But, if we move towards poles, we can witness some breathtaking spectacle of light in the night sky i.e. Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights in the north and Aurora Australis or Southern Lights in the south.
But what causes the night sky at poles to take such astonishing colors?
The simplest answer is the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere of Earth. The solar wind is the stream of charged particles, that the Sun emits from its upper atmosphere. It mostly consists of protons, alpha particles, and electrons.
When the solar wind flows past Earth's magnetosphere, the particles of the solar wind are deflected towards the poles by Earth's magnetic field. When these particles interact with our atmosphere, they transfer energy and the atmosphere fluoresce.
The solar wind is constant and so are the Northern lights but its brightness changes. The Solar Maximum is when Aurorae is the brightest, The last solar maximum was in 2014 and the next one would be in 2025.
The Southern Lights are the same as their northern counterparts but the location changes. Some auroral emissions occur at the same magnetic local time in both the hemispheres. While other emissions appear at different times in both hemispheres.
You remember seeing different colors of Northern lights, predominantly red and green. That is because different atoms emit a different wavelength of light on excitation. Nitrogen molecules are responsible for the red hue while green is produced by oxygen molecules.
Nature is filled with wonders, so next time you encounter something beautiful courtesy of nature mother, do share it with us, We would love to read about your experiences.
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Informative one dude🙂