THE SECRET BEHIND
THE
NORTHERN LIGHTS
By Sanduni Dissanayake
NATURE ' S MAGIC SHOW
We have all heard of the magnificent northern lights (also
called the aurora) or at least seen it on TV or displays.
Looking at the northern lights it’s hard to imagine that
nature can produce such beautiful flowing ribbons of
colors. In the past, people have had various opinions on
what these magical bands of lights were. One common
thought that originated from the Eskimos was that the
lights were dancing spirits of animals; this idea was used in
the creation of the animated movie called Brother Bear in
2003.
With the rapid expansion of our knowledge, we have come
to understand exactly how these beautiful lights are born
out of nature. Unfortunately, we can only witness this
magic show from certain areas on earth and there’s a good
reason for this. These lights are called the northern lights
because they can only be seen in regions close to the north
pole, however, there are also southern lights but are not
widely known for its not as accessible as the northern
lights. They can be seen 66.5 degrees north and south of
equatorial region and just like stars, the northern lights are
only visible at night.
This nature’s magic show actually starts a long way away
from us, at the sun. Our sun is made up of highly charged
particles called ions. Every now and then the sun emits high
energy radiation containing ions from regions called
sunspots in the form of solar flares. These events throw out
charged particles into the space. While a part of these
particles travel deep into space, some of these charged
particles come in our direction and interfere with our
magnetic field.
JUNE 2017
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