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Aurora (Northern Lights)

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 5 months ago

Aurora (The Northern Lights)

 

 

 The Aurora Borealis are the lights seen in the night sky in the polar zones. The aurora borealis are known as the northern polar lights because they can only been seen in the northern hemisphere and are easier to see the further north you travel. The Aurora Borealis are named for the greek goddess of dawn aurora and the greek word for north wind , Boreas.  The northern lights also have a southern counterpart  known as the aurora australis which are only visible in the southern hemisphere. The aurora borealis can be seen between September and October and between March and April. The Aurora Borealis are a phenomena that many people around the world travel to witness and
 
 
Cause
 

The aurora is very common and happens twice every years in the poles. These magnetic storms are most common during the peak the sunspot cycle which causes the largest aurora. The main cause of the Aurora are enegy charged particles from the magnetosphere. The particles are electrons and protons that are energy fill in our geospace (region of space around Earth).  The energy is gained from the reaction between Earth's magnetoshere and the solar wind. The magnetosphere is a volume of space surrounding Earth which is caused by Earths magnetic field. It reaches out into space until it is balanced out by the solar wind. The solar wind is furthest atmosphere of the sun. the sun releases a very thin gas in it's atmosphere and in this gas are protons and electrons. When these protons and electrons hit a planet's magnetic field they cannot move through so they move along the field. The solar wind continues to try and move through the magnetosphere and eventually the magnetosphere sgets rid of  electrons and protons into the upper atmosphere where the energy of the plasma can be released. This plasma is what causes the aurora. you can see this displayed in the image above.

 

Comments (1)

Anonymous said

at 12:43 pm on Oct 14, 2008

I think that this web page is extremely interesting. It informs you well and helps you to better understand the Aurora and why it occurs.

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