Geo Travel Blog

The northern lights are a fantastic natural phenomenon, which are manifested by a beautiful display of natural light in the sky. Also sometimes referred to as Auroras, these displays can be seen at night in the Polar Regions and because of this many people also refer to them as Polar Auroras or Aurora Borealis. The most vivid displays can be seen as one gets closer to the magnetic North Pole.

When they are seen from near the North Magnetic Pole they may seem to be high overhead. However when one moves further away from the North Pole, they appear to illuminate the entire northern horizon. In this instance, they will be emitted as a greenish glow, but from time to time they take on a very subdued reddish colour, sometimes compared to a sunrise. At one point in history the Northern Lights were called the “Dance of the Spirits,” as they are often very eerie.

Interestingly, even Benjamin Franklin at one point had his own theory as to what caused the Northern Lights to appear. Franklin suggested that it was due to the absorption of electrical charges taking place in the Polar Regions and that when large amounts of moisture were present, the light intensified. Of course we have a better understanding of this phenomenon nowadays, in that we know they’re due to an interaction between the earth’s magnetic field and the solar winds. In fact, the Northern Lights are produced when charged particles such as the electrons collide with molecules and atoms in the earth’s atmosphere, usually at an altitude above 50 miles.

Conclusive evidence shows that these particles originate from the sun and that they arrive here in the earth’s vicinity as low energy solar winds. When this happens, these particles become trapped within the magnetic field of the solar wind itself. This then ends up connecting to the Earth’s magnetic field before eventually entering into the magnetosphere, where they are then propelled towards the earth.

In the Northern Lights, atomic oxygen will give it the characteristic green and red colours, and molecular nitrogen as well as nitrogen ions will give the lights reds, pinks, blue and even violet colours. This is seen when different gasses interact with the upper atmosphere.

Sometimes the auroras appear as what could only be explained as curtains in the northern lights. These striations can of course change depending on an observer’s perspective and on occasions they can appear as a beautiful Corona. At this time auroral arcs can often be seen forming and moving towards the equator at around midnight.

It should be mentioned that the northern lights have also been seen from other parts of the world as well during the course of history. However, such sightings only take place at times when there has been an intense coronal mass ejection from the sun.

NASA has accumulated a wealth of photographs of this magnificent phenomenon. As you can imagine, while it may be beautiful to see from here on earth, when seen from outer space, the display is even more spectacular.