The thermosphere is the second-highest layer of the atmosphere. This probe carried seven instruments to study the electromagnetic energy that can heat the thermosphere during auroral events. NASA launched the Auroral Spatial Structures Probe in 2015 into the northern lights. In certain areas such as Alaska or Greenland, auroras are visible throughout the year.

However, some auroras have been detected as far as Mexico. They mostly occur in high altitudes near the poles this is due to the fact that electrons travel along magnetic field lines, and the Earth’s magnetic field lines come out and go into the Earth near its poles. The analysis of these different colors can give us results, for example, in the form of energy levels of the electrons, which bombard our atmosphere and create the aurora. Our eye can’t detect these lights only special cameras on satellites can capture them. Oxygen and nitrogen can also emit ultraviolet light. Nitrogen, on the other hand, often gives a blue light, if these colors blend, they result in purple, pink, and white. When it comes to the usual green light, oxygen emits greenish-yellow or even red light. This change in energy has a specific value, and the resulting photon thus has a particular color or wavelength. When it comes to the color of the polar lights, it all depends on whether electrons collide with oxygen or nitrogen, and how energetically. They can have different colorsĬertain atoms create different colors. When large numbers of these collisions are present, they create enough light for us to see. These excited molecules eventually return to their non-excited state by releasing photons, or light particles.

Electrons transfer a part of their energy in the molecules when they collide, and this transfer excites them. The sun is responsible for these charged particles. The origin of AurorasĪuroras are caused by collisions between fast-moving electrons from the magnetosphere – a region of space controlled by Earth’s magnetic field – and oxygen and nitrogen molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere. With that being said, here are some fascinating facts about aurora borealis. These events also occur in the southern hemisphere they are called Aurora Australis – southern lights, and this phenomenon also occurs on other planets. These beautiful events have inspired stories from prehistoric times, and only recently, we have just begun to study them scientifically. These curtains of colored light which appear in the northern hemisphere are visible in the middle of the night, and the dead of winter. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are incredible light shows caused by collisions between electrically charged particles and Earth’s atmosphere.Īurora Borealis- meaning “northern dawn” – are targeted by many enthusiasts across the world.

Aurora borealis