The colors of
the aurora depend on the atmospheric gases that the solar
winds encounter as well as the altitude in which they
interact.
Oxygen and nitrogen are the most abundant gases
in the atmosphere and create most of the colors that we
see. The green lights are the
most common. Oxygen creates the green lights when
the solar winds interact with the air molecules
below 240 km (approx. 150 miles) in altitude.
Nitrogen
creates the blue lights when the altitude is below 100 km
(approx. 62 miles),
but above this altitude nitrogen will emit a purple or
violet color.
The
image below shows atoms being excited at different
altitudes.
The red
aurora is one of the rarest phenomenons. This
aberration is the result
of the solar winds interacting with oxygen at altitudes above 240 km.
Red aurora borealis over
Wrangell/St.Elias National Park in Alaska.
Michael S. Quinton/National Geographic/Getty Images.
The following image is the light spectra
of oxygen and nitrogen and shows the wavelength in
nano-meters.
Oxygen
Nitrogen
The aurora can depict wisps, pillars, pinwheels,
arcs, rays, curtains, ribbons and halos of dancing lights. The dancing of the aurora is created by the movement of the lights with the atmospheric
currents.
Aurora Borealis as seen in Michigan Aurora Borealis as seen from Delta Junction Alaska on April 10, 2015
The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their word to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
