|
|
An Aurora is a curtain-like glow of light, which spreads from east to west, which occurs around the north and South Pole. The one in the north is called the aurora borealis, while the one in the south is the aurora australis. It can also appear in the form of draperies, coronas, or an arc that always keeps the same shape. They are made of long thin rays are parallel to the earth's magnetic field. Those rays often disappear and reappear in the same position every few seconds. The light of an aurora is strongest when activities are taking place on the sun.
|
There are different types of colors in an aurora. The color is formed when the excited molecules trapped in the magnetic field collide with the particles in the atmosphere. The energized atoms of oxygen crashing develop the most common color green. Oxygen molecules let out red or yellow light. Nitrogen atoms glow off a purple or a pink glow.
Auroras are seen most often in the months of March and September. Auroral activity is not continuous, it often occurs every twenty-seven days because that is how long it takes the moon to rotate the earth. Auroras are seen at 100km(62mi) in altitude, 300km(190mi) in latitude. Auroras are seen around Alaska, the central part of Hudson Bay, Labrador, Norway, Sweden, and the northern coast of Siberia in the Northern Hemisphere in the Southern Hemisphere, you can see it at Antarctica.
|
|