Aurora Borealis: Where Do The Northern Lights Come From?

The Aurora borealis, or the Northern Lights, which shimmer across the night sky, always hold attention of those who live in or visit areas in the high latitudes. Some say that these colorful lights are spirits of their ancestors who are dancing, and others say they are the fire bridge between the Earth and the heavens built by gods. But really, where do these lights comes from?

The sun is approximately 93 million miles away. Massive storms on the sun release gusts of charged solar particles which are dispersed across space. If these particles cross the Earth's paths, the Earth's magnetic fields and its atmosphere react to the solar particles. The charged particles from the sun hit the atoms and molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, and it 'excites' the atoms, which causes them to light up. The electron in the atoms moves to a higher-energy state, then they drop to a lower energy state, and a photon of light is released. This results in the radiant Northern Lights.

These auroras appear like drapes of light and sometimes they seem like spirals or half circles since they tend to follow the force in the Earth's magnetic field, according to a news release. Northern lights are sometimes green, and they also have hint of pink, violet, red and white. Various gases in the Earth's atmosphere often produce different colors when they are active. For instance, oxygen produces the aurora's green color, while nitrogen produces blue or reddish colors.

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