Northern Lights: All About Aurora Borealis
Up at the poles, towards the north of the north, in those magical skies, exists a goddess called Aurora Borealis!
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What is Northern Light?
The Northern Lights, or the aurora borealis, are a beautiful dancing ribbon of light and are known to enthrall the human heart for millennia.
Northern & Southern Aurora Borealis
The aurora is seen near both the northern and southern hemispheres' poles. It's called the aurora borealis in the north, while in the south, it is called the aurora australis. These lights enthralled, frightened, and inspired the human race for decades.
Causes of the Northern Lights: How Does it Form
At every moment, the sun discharges particles from its corona, or upper atmosphere; these particles become the solar wind. The aurora is born when that wind crashes into Earth's ionosphere or upper atmosphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, it's known as the Northern Lights (aurora borealis); in the Southern Hemisphere, it's known as the Southern Lights (aurora australis). "These particles are deflected toward the poles of Earth by our planet's magnetic field and interact with our atmosphere, depositing energy and causing the atmosphere to fluoresce," said Billy Teets, the director of Dyer Observatory at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The bright colors are determined by Earth's atmospheric chemical composition.
How are the Northern Lights Formed?
Solar storms on our sun's surface push great clouds of electrically charged particles into space. Such particles can travel millions of miles, and will eventually hit Earth. Most of these particles are deflected away, but some are trapped within the magnetic field of the Earth, accelerating downwards toward the north and south poles into the atmosphere. This is the reason auroral activity is found concentrated at the magnetic poles. "These particles then smack into atoms and molecules in the Earth's atmosphere and pretty much warm them up," says Royal Observatory astronomer Tom Kerss. "We call this physical process 'excitation', but it's like heating a gas and making it glow." What we see, therefore are atoms and molecules in our atmosphere bumped into by particles from the Sun. It is those lines of force in the Earth's magnetic field that cause the characteristic wavy patterns and the 'curtains' of light.
Where to See Northern Lights (2024-2025)
To see northern lights or aurora borealis get pretty strategic about everything from timing and weather to geography and seasons. Go through these three important suggestions. 1) First, search for a location that typically crosses through Alaska, northern Canada, southern Greenland, Iceland, and northern Norway. 2) Second, Well, you need dark nights. 3) And third, clear skies. We questioned the experts on this list—Jan Sortland (Norway and Iceland), Torunn Tronsvang (Norway), Mads Christensen (Iceland), and Marc Telio (Canada)—so we can learn their best times and places to see the lights and get insider tips on fun ways to spend your time between your nightside viewing.
General tips before we get on with their favorite locations to see the northern lights:
1) Go between October to March 2) Understand the auroral oval. 3) Plan a longer trip. 4) Don’t assume you’re guaranteed a light show in Sweden, Finland, or Greenland. 5) Time your holiday right (Between October to March)Time your holiday right (Between October to March) 6) Go north and look for the stars 7) Monitor the local weather forecast 8) Check the space weather 9) Sign up for Aurora alerts
When Northern Lights Can Be Seen?
The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are best viewed between late September and late March: 1) The best Northern Lights time is between 9 PM and 3 AM local time. 2) Check the local weather forecast and avoid cloudy conditions. 3) The best times to view these magical Lights include equinoxes in March-April and September-October.
Perfect Time to Visit Norway For the Best Northern Lights Experience
To see the Northern Lights, you need an open sky and total darkness. Ordinarily, a 'good' sky condition would be cold and dry. Between mid-September and early April, such conditions might occur in Norway above the Arctic Circle. If the weather is right, you should cross your fingers for a sunstorm, shooting some magical particles in your direction.
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Why do the Northern Lights dance?
Dancing auroras are caused by solar wind particles striking Earth's magnetic field and finally penetrating the planet's magnetic field lines. As the electrons reach the upper part of the atmosphere, sometimes they get converted into pulses of chorus waves and seem like dancing.
What is the mystery behind the Dancing auroras?
Input from the sun changed constantly, and many different responses varied in the Earth's upper atmosphere, the motion of the planet, and the particles in near-Earth space all conspiring to give different motions and shapes of the aurora.
What is the myth of the Northern Lights?
The Swedes believed that the Northern Lights were the reflections of schools of herring. If they saw the Northern Light, they would have great success.
Is it lucky to see the Dancing auroras?
They are lucky to some cultures while to others, they are the spirits of the dead ancestors.