Aurora
An aurora, also called polar light, northern light or southern light, is a natural light display in the sky. They are usually seen in the high latitudes (Arctic and Antarctic) regions. Auroras are produced when the Earth's magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind.
An aurora around the North Pole is called the Aurora borealis or 'northern lights'. Around the South Pole is the Aurora australis or 'dawn of the south' or 'southern lights'. It can be seen from long distances, stretching in the sky many hundreds of miles.
Auroras can happen at any time, however, they can only be seen at night because their light is not as intense as the light of day. Faint stars can even be seen through the aurora.
Many legends are associated with the aurora in all countries where this phenomenon regularly occurs.
How it happens
An aurora occurs when the Sun sends off small particles into space. These particles are mainly electrons,[1] with charge and energy, which means they contribute to electricity. Earth has a protective shield of energy around it. This is called the "magnetic field" and forms an elongated sphere around the Earth called the "magnetosphere". The Earth’s magnetic field keeps off most solar wind.
At high-latitude areas (polar areas), the magnetic field is vertical. It does not keep off particles of the solar wind which can come from the magnetosphere and hit the particles of the air (Earth's atmosphere). When they hit, the atmosphere is heated and excited and the excess gets away, a phenomenon which we see as moving lights in the sky above 100 km altitude typically. An aurora can be especially bright following a solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) when the charged particles rips through the electromagnetic field because of their power.
On other planets
Auroral phenomena have been observed on other planets that have a magnetic field, such as Jupiter, and Saturn. It is believed to be a widespread phenomenon in the Solar System and beyond.
Aurora Media
Aurora australis seen from the ISS, 2017
Video of the complete aurora australis by IMAGE, superimposed over a digital image of Earth
Polar aurora, Iceland Feb. 2014. Canon EOS 400D, 17mm-f2,8- Iso 1600. First row exposure time 30-20sec, with the naked eye slightly visible. Second row exposure time 4sec., clearly visible.
Divergence point of a coronal aurora
2024 appearance seen in England radiating blue through red aurora
Construction of a keogram from one night's recording by an all-sky camera, 6/7 September 2021. Keograms are commonly used to visualize changes in aurorae over time.
Norther lights and the moon from southwestern Iceland
False-colour image of ultraviolet Aurora australis captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite and overlaid onto NASA's satellite-based Blue Marble image.
Schematic of Earth's magnetosphere
