The aurora borealis is a very beautiful phenomenon of nature that occurs at the Earth's north pole. It results from the impact of solar winds with the planet's magnetic field.
Bright lights characterize this manifestation of nature that can be seen in only a few places in the world.
Northern Lights photo
How and where does it happen?
In addition to emitting light, the Sun also emits solar winds, which are filled with energy-laden subatomic particles.
Called plasma, these particles cause the phenomenon of light when they come into contact with the magnetic fields at the poles.
Northern and southern aurora scheme illustration. Source: Marco Brotto
And the Ionoffer the layer of the atmosphere most affected by magnetic fields.
The main colors formed are green and red. Green is formed by the emission of oxygen atoms in high atmospheric layers.
Red is formed by the emission of nitrogen atoms, in greater quantity, and oxygen, in lower layers.
The aurora borealis is visible to the naked eye. It can be seen in the late afternoons and at night, in the first months of the year, particularly in January, February and March, when most of the snow has fallen and the sky is clear in the hemisphere north.
It can also be seen in autumn, in the months of September and October.
The phenomenon is visible in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Alaska, Finland, Scotland, Russia, Iceland, Greenland and Canada.
And the Austral Aurora?
Photo of the southern aurora in New Zealand
The same phenomenon of lights, resulting from solar activity, also occurs in the southern hemisphere of the planet. In this hemisphere, it is called the aurora australis, name created by the English navigator James Cook.
The city of Ushuaia, capital of the Province of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, is one of the places where we can observe the southern dawn. It is the southernmost city in the world and, therefore, it is called the “end of the world”.
In addition, this phenomenon can also be observed in Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.
Curiosities
The name Aurora Borealis was created by the scientist Galileo Galilei in the year 1619. It is a tribute to Aurora, Roman goddess of the dawn, and Borias, her son, representative of the north wind.
One of the favorite places to witness the phenomenon is in the city of Thomsø, in Norway.
Read too:
- What is Atmosphere?
- Equinox
- Scandinavia
- Nordic countries
