What you can see here is the most amazing natural phenomenon visible even in Australia, the Aurora Borealis or Australis. So what is an Aurora? It is a light display visible in the northern and southern parts of the world. These lights appear in many forms, from patches or scattered clouds of light, to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow. For thousands of years people in the northern part of the world have both marvelled and feared these displays in the sky. The Indians and Eskimos of North America had many theories to explain the displays including that is was; dancing spirits, an evil thing, a creator reminder, or an omen of war. However, in the late 1800’s, scientists suspected a connection between the Northern Lights and sunspot activity. …show more content…
These electrically charged particles then react with gaseous particles, such as nitrogen or oxygen, inside the Earths atmosphere, forming beautiful coloured waves over the sky. The collisions cause the electrons to become excited and comprise of very high energy levels, once they return back to normal, the atoms emit distinct wavelengths of visible light. The array of different colours are produced depending on the wavelength of light emitted. This is determined by the specific atmospheric gas, its electrical state and the energy of the particle that hits the atmospheric gas. The most common auroral colour is yellowy-green with pink wisps on the edge, this produced by oxygen molecules approximately 100 to 200 kilometres from the earths surface. Red Auroras are produced by high altitude oxygen approximately 300km above the earth or, by low altitude nitrogen. Nitrogen causes the purple and blue hues which are also seen in both the Aurora Borealis and Aurora