Image
Courtesy
Of:
AstroBob
The magnificent aurora
on earth is the
planet's true pride of existence. For life, oxygen and sunlight are the
essentials, but for visual pleasure, the aurora reigns omnipotently
supreme.
Image Courtesy Of: Exploratorium
The birth of an aurora
is not a single
event, so much as an ever constant process which occasionally demands
more attention. The sun, as it has consistently for many years,
radiates solar winds of charged particles in all physical directions.
Image Courtesy Of: University
of
Michigan
One of
the paths the sun particles take is
inevitably directed
at our home, earth. As the solar
winds bombard the
atmosphere without rest, chemical and physical reactions in the heavens
begin to take place.
Image
Courtesy
Of:
Aleksey
Galan
High up in the earth's
magnetosphere, the
solar winds begin to engage contact with terrestrial plasma. The atoms
in the plasma, after colliding with the
sun's particles, become excited,
and release their energy as brilliant photons of colored light.
Image Courtesy Of: Dominic Cantin
Earth's magnetic field,
the forceful hand
in the entire operation, grasps the reacting particles, and guides
their dance. The light, bending in shape, changing colors in its
flight, flys across a well worn, unmarked spacial path to the magnetic
poles. With a multitude of color,
shape patterns, and movements, the auroras are certainly as
stunningly beautiful now as they were when the first pair of human eyes
captured sight of them.
Image Courtesy Of: Nikon
Image Courtesy Of: Parkland
College