Aurora borealis how does it work

In contrast, the circuit breakers in your home will disengage when current flow exceeds amperes at volts. The auroras generally occur along the "auroral ovals," which center on the magnetic poles not the geographic poles and roughly correspond with the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

There are times, though, when the lights are farther south, usually when there are a lot of sunspots. Sunspot activity follows an year cycle. The next peak will occur in and , so opportunities to see auroras outside their normal range should be good. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. When a solar storm comes toward us, some of the energy and small particles can travel down the magnetic field lines at the north and south poles into Earth's atmosphere.

There, the particles interact with gases in our atmosphere resulting in beautiful displays of light in the sky. Oxygen gives off green and red light. Nitrogen glows blue and purple. The green bands of light in the sky are an aurora australis, an aurora at the south pole.

They sure do! Auroras are not just something that happen on Earth. If a planet has an atmosphere and magnetic field, they probably have auroras. We've seen amazing auroras on Jupiter and Saturn. These swirls of red light are an aurora on the south pole of Saturn. Free electrons and protons are thrown from the sun's atmosphere by the rotation of the sun and escape through holes in the magnetic field.

Blown towards the earth by the solar wind, the charged particles are largely deflected by the earth's magnetic field.

However, the earth's magnetic field is weaker at either pole and therefore some particles enter the earth's atmosphere and collide with gas particles.

These collisions emit light that we perceive as the dancing lights of the north and the south. The lights of the Aurora generally extend from 80 kilometres 50 miles to as high as kilometres miles above the earth's surface. Northern Lights can be seen in the northern or southern hemisphere, in an irregularly shaped oval centred over each magnetic pole.

The lights are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south. Scientists have learned that in most instances northern and southern auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time, with similar shapes and colors. Because the phenomena occurs near the magnetic poles, northern lights have been seen as far south as New Orleans in the western hemisphere, while similar locations in the east never experience the mysterious lights.

However the best places to watch the lights in North America are in the northwestern parts of Canada, particularly the Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Auroral displays can also be seen over the southern tip of Greenland and Iceland, the northern coast of Norway and over the coastal waters north of Siberia.

Southern auroras are not often seen as they are concentrated in a ring around Antarctica and the southern Indian Ocean.

Areas that are not subject to 'light pollution' are the best places to watch for the lights. Areas in the north, in smaller communities, tend to be best. Researchers have also discovered that auroral activity is cyclic, peaking roughly every 11 years.