grahic courtesy of aurora.icaap.org
The Aurora is a spectacular phenomenon, generated by the sun. The Aurora is created when the solar wind blows around the earth. Part of the solar wind is deflected while a fraction of it penetrates into our own atmosphere and gets caught in the Earth's magnetic field. Earth's invisible magnetic field attracts the Aurora to both the North and South Poles, simultaneously creating the Aurora in both the Northern (Aurora Borealis) and Southern (Aurora Australialis) hemisphere.
The brilliant colors seen in the Aurora are due to the interaction between gases and charged particles at various altitudes.
Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude
Color info. taken from science.howstuffworks.com/question471.htm
www.polar.umd.edu/~allanw/
Although we see the Aurora as light display, it can generate 100,000 megawatts of electricity in a 3 hour display! This can cause major interference with power lines, radio and television broadcasts, and satellite communications.
anchorage.fbi.gov/
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