One of the coolest natural special effects that you could ever witness is the northern lights. It creates a lightshow in the air with green, red or blue effects. Yesterday this could be seen in several parts of the world. There have even been reports of people seeing it in southern states of the United States. This is very unusual and not something you will soon forget I’m sure.
The northern lights is caused by particles coming from the sun. These particles are being sent by the sun everyday but some days in higher volumes then others. When for instance a solar flare takes place on the sun, the amount of particles that is sent, will be much higher. A coronal mass ejection can also cause a high increase in the amount of particles sent.
Nothing much happens with these particles until they hit the magnetic field of the earth. The particles can’t cross through a magnetic field. Because of this they will travel to the end of a magnetic field which is at the north pole or the south pole of the Earth. The particles have a high energy charge. In the atmosphere of the earth they will collide with oxygen- and nitrogen molecules. This results in a higher energy level of these molecules and makes them unstable. When they eventually get back to a stable state, they will give a flash. These flashes are what creates the northern lights.
Explaining how it works can be quite difficult, while explaining how beautiful it is, isn’t. Just take a look at the picture below for example.
Many people travel to places that are famous for the many northern light ‘sightings’. For some people it can be a religious experience to see northern lights. When I am looking at the picture, I can understand why people would feel this way. It looks like a scene out of a movie. In earlier times when there was no explanation for these kind of happenings, it could be a scary experience for people. It was not uncommon for people to see the phenomenon as something spiritual or from ‘the gods above’.
Yesterday has been one of those rare days at which the northern light could be seen by people from the US. If you missed it, don’t worry. Many people have recorded it and posted it all over the internet. Because of the technology being used for these magnetic field disturbances and better knowledge about the causes of these events, many people were prepared on the northern lights. This caused many fanatics to install their cameras ahead of time and capture it all. Just to give you an idea of the greatness of northern lights, check out this video on Youtube.