What Are The Northern Lights?
The Northern Lights are caused by solar particles that enter the atmosphere around the earth. These electrically charged particles are drawn towards the polar regions by the earth’s magnetic field. When they hit the atmosphere, they emit burning gases that create different colors of light such as yellow, green and blue. In the northern hemisphere, this is called the aurora borealis. The same thing happens around the South Pole, where it is called the aurora australis
Where Are The Best Places To See The Northern Lights?
The particles, and the light show they create, tend to be concentrated in a doughnut-shaped area around the earth’s magnetic pole. This “doughnut” area can grow, shrink, and shift, so its location is not entirely predictable. The best viewing areas in the northern hemisphere tend to be in Alaska, Canada, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, and Russia.