What are Auroras?

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What are Auroras?

An aurora is a natural light display in Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic).
Auroras are caused by the interaction of energetic particles (electrons and protons) of the solar wind with atoms of the upper atmosphere.
Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky.
They are also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis).

What is the Aurora Borealis?

Often called the Northern Lights, it occurs in the northern hemisphere, predominantly in regions near the Arctic Circle.
This includes countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Canada, and Alaska.
The northern lights result from charged particles from the sun, mainly electrons and protons, colliding with the Earth’s magnetosphere and interacting with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.
These collisions produce colourful displays of light, primarily in green, red and purple hues.
The bright colors of the northern lights are dictated by the chemical composition of Earth’s atmosphere.

Q1: What is a Solar flare?

It is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our solar system’s largest explosive events.

Source: Knowledge Nugget of the day: Northern lights