AURORA !

What is Aurora ?Aurora a Latin word for “sunrise”.Basically natural light display in the sky.Usually observed at night , particularly in the polar region.Also known as Aurora Borealis (or the northern lights) or

Aurora Australis (or the southern lights).

• are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night,

• particularly in the polar region.

Occurrence !Most auroras occur in a band known as the auroral zone.It’s a ring-shaped region with a radius of approximately 2500 km around the Earth's magnetic pole.Most of the light is produced between 90 and 150 km above the ground, while extending at times to more than 1000 km.

Appearance !The aurora frequently appears as "curtains" that extend approximately in the east-west direction.Red: At the highest altitudes, lower sensitivity of eyes at this wavelength. The low amount of oxygen atoms is responsible for the faint appearance.Green: At lower altitudes. Fairly high concentration of atomic oxygen and higher eye sensitivity in green make green auroras the most common.Yellow and pink are a mix of red and green or blue.Blue: At yet lower altitudes. Lowest atomic oxygen. Most visible.

Oxygen emissions - green or orange-red, depending on the amount of energy absorbed.

Nitrogen emissions - blue or red; blue if the atom regains an electron after it has been ionized, red if returning to ground state from an excited state.

How does it occur ?

Sun emits charged particles

Particle form Solar Wind

Solar Wind being captured by

Earth’s magnetosphere

Particles drawn up to the Earth’s

magnetic poles

The excited electrons emit

energy in form of light

AURORA

Where can auroras be seen !

Northern Canada, Alaska and along the northern coast of Siberia, Northern Norway, etc. Antarctica and the surrounding ocean, can also be glimpsed from Tasmania and southern New Zealand. Both Jupiter and Saturn have magnetic fields much stronger than Earth's ; auroras have been observed on both, most clearly. Uranus and Neptune have also been observed to have auroras.