Why do northern lights appear

This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent. The last solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA , placing the next one in approximately Despite plenty of advances in heliophysics and atmospheric science, much about the northern lights remains a mystery.

NASA is also on the hunt for clues about how the northern lights work. In , the space agency launched the Parker Solar Probe , which is currently orbiting the sun and will eventually get close enough to "touch" the corona. While there, the spacecraft will collect information that could reveal more about the northern lights.

On Earth, the northern lights' counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is the southern lights — they are physically the same and differ only in their location. As such, scientists expect them to occur simultaneously during a solar storm, but sometimes the onset of one lags behind the other.

The hemispheric asymmetry of the aurora is in part due to the sun's magnetic field interfering with Earth's magnetic field, but research into the phenomenon is ongoing. Like the northern and southern lights, STEVE is a glowing atmospheric phenomenon, but it looks slightly different from its undulating auroral counterparts.

A study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters discovered that STEVE is the result of two mechanisms: The mauve streaks are caused by the heating of charged particles in the upper atmosphere, while the picket-fence structure results from electrons falling into the atmosphere. Auroras occur on other planets, too — all that's required to make an aurora is an atmosphere and a magnetic field. When these charged particles hit the atoms and molecules high up in our atmosphere, they become excited.

This creates two glowing rings of auroral emission around the North and South magnetic poles, known as auroral ovals. As they decay back to their original state, they emit distinctive colours of light. The realisation of the enormity of the universe washes over you, and you feel small in a good way and full of wonder.

These atoms become excited at different levels in the atmosphere. The most common colour seen in the Northern Lights is green. The red light we sometimes see is also caused by oxygen atoms. These particles are higher up in the atmosphere and are subject to a lower energy red light emission. The particles from the solar wind must hit nitrogen atoms a lot harder in order to excite them.

The Aurora Borealis originates some 93,, miles away on the surface of the Sun with a massive explosion of electromagnetic matter called a Coronal Mass Ejection CME. It is when these particles are directed towards the Earth that we can see the Northern or Southern Lights three or four nights later. As the Solar Wind approaches the Earth it causes a distortion in our magnetic field and, whilst most of the particles are deflected away from us, some escape into our atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

It is the emissions of these photons on a huge scale that causes the Aurora to appear in our night sky. Incoming particles react with atoms and molecules and become 'excited'. Atoms and molecules release light as they calm down. Ali rarely forgets to remind us that he founded the UK's first ever Northern Lights holiday brand but behind his….

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They were so beautiful, I had to stop the car and get out to have a proper look, even though it was cold. Although the northern lights might look like magic, they can actually be explained by science — with a bit of help from the Sun, birds and fizzy drinks. The energy for making the northern lights comes from the Sun. This is different to the light that we get from the Sun, which keeps us warm and helps us to see during the day.

This solar wind drifts away from the Sun through space, carrying tiny particles called protons and electrons. Protons and electrons are some of the tiny building blocks that make up most of the stuff in the universe, like plants and chocolate and me and you.

Think of the smallest Lego bricks you have in your toy box, which can be stuck together to make bigger things - these are what protons and electrons and neutrons too are to the universe.

These particles carry lots of energy from the Sun, on their journey through space. We can only see the northern lights at times when the solar wind is strong enough.