Thursday 5 August 2010

Not so Northern Lights

Ever seen one of these before ? Yes, the fabled 'Northern Lights'. Once, Exclusively seen in Northern Scandinavia and in the Arctic. NOT ANY MORE !!

According to top scientists, The 'Northern Lights' are now viewable in Denmark and Germany. You might ask why or how ,but first lets address the question :

Q) What is this ' Northern Lights ' ?

Ans) The 'Northern Lights' or Scientifically called Aurora Borealis are actually part of the Earth's Magnetic Field ( which is usually invisible). The Phenomenon of the Northern Lights occurs because of Charged Gas Particles (which comes from the sun in the form of a 'Solar Wind') interacting (or messing around) with the Earth's Magnetic Field. This solar wind has its own magnetic field which pulls or drags away the earth's magnetic fields from their original position thus disconnecting them from our planet. 

In other words : When the charged gas particles interacts with the Earth's Magnetic field, they make the gas particles ( such as Argon, Oxygen, Nitrogen Etc..) ''excited'' and hence they glow :) 

A red or Green glow is Oxygen.
A blue or Purple colour is Nitrogen.

You can clearly see the power of the Solar Flare ( Be Afraid :)


Back to the Point : Why is it occurring so low ?
Ans: It would be very hard to explain it (astronomically) but to cut things short : 

A recent Solar flare (heat from the sun that escapes into space in the way of an eruption) erupted, the solar flare was the largest ever recorded (if I'm not mistaken )and so hence, A Big Solar Flare or Wind makes a bigger impact.

Keep this in mind : Bigger Flare = Lower (Latitude-speaking) Position.


For more information: visit  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare

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