How epic solar winds make brilliant polar lights - Michael Molina

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Why do we see those stunning lights in the northern- and southernmost portions of the night sky? The Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis occur when high-energy particles are flung from the Sun's corona toward the Earth and mingle with the neutral atoms in our atmosphere -- ultimately emitting extraordinary light and color. Michael Molina explains every step of this dazzling phenomenon.

Lesson by Michael Molina, animation by Franco Barroeta.

Every second,

one million tons of matter is blasted from the Sun

at the velocity of one million miles per hour,

and it's on a collision course

with Earth!

But don't worry,

this isn't the opening of a new Michael Bay movie.

This is The Journey of the Polar Lights.

The Northern and Southern Lights,

also known as the Aurora Borealis

and Aurora Australis, respectively,

occur when high energy particles from the Sun

collide with neutral atoms in our atmosphere.

The energy emitted from this crash

produces a spectacle of light

that mankind has marveled at for centuries.

But the particles journey isn't just as simple

as leaving the Sun and arriving at Earth.

Like any cross-country road trip,

there's a big detour

and nobody asks for directions.

Let's track this intergalactic voyage

by focusing on three main points of their journey:

leaving the sun,

making a pit stop in the Earth's magnetic fields,

and arriving at the atmosphere above our heads.

The protons and electrons creating the Northern Lights

depart from the Sun's corona.

The corona is the outermost layer

of the Sun's atmosphere

and is one of the hottest regions.

Its intense heat causes the Sun's hydrogen

and helium atoms to vibrate

and shake off protons and electrons

as if they were stripping off layers on a hot, sunny day.

Impatient and finally behind the wheel,

these free protons and electrons move too fast

to be contained by the sun's gravity

and group together as plasma,

an electrically charged gas.

They travel away from the sun

as a constant gale of plasma,

known as the solar wind.

However, the Earth prevents the solar wind

from travelling straight into the planet

by setting up a detour,

the magnetosphere.

The magnetosphere is formed

by the Earth's magnetic currents

and shields our planet from the solar winds

by sending out the particles around the Earth.

Their opportunity to continue the journey

down to the atmosphere

comes when the magnetosphere is overwhelmed

by a new wave of travellers.

This event is coronal mass ejection,

and it occurs when the Sun shoots out

a massive ball of plasma into the solar wind.

When one of these coronal mass ejections

collides with Earth,

it overpowers the magnetosphere

and creates a magnetic storm.

The heavy storm stresses the magnetosphere

until it suddenly snaps back,

like and overstretched elastic band,

flinging some of the detoured particles towards Earth.

The retracting band of the magnetic field

drags them down to the aurora ovals,

which are the locations

of the Northern and Southern Lights.

After travelling 93 million miles across the galaxy,

the Sun's particles finally produce

their dazzling light show with the help of some friends.

Twenty to two hundred miles above the surface,

the electrons and protons meet up

with oxygen and nitrogen atoms,

and they sure are happy to see each other.

The Sun's particles high five the atoms,

giving their energy

to the Earth's neutral oxygen and nitrogen atoms.

When the atoms in the atmosphere

are contacted by the particles,

they get excited and emit photons.

Photons are small bursts of energy

in the form of light.

The colors that appear in the sky

depend on the wavelength of the atom's photon.

Excited oxygen atoms are responsible

for the green and red colors,

where as excited nitrogen atoms produce

blue and deep red hues.

The collection of these interactions

is what creates the Northern and Southern Lights.

The polar lights are best seen on clear nights

in regions close to magnetic north and south poles.

Nighttime is ideal

because the Aurora is much dimmer than sunlight

and cannot be seen in daytime.

Remember to look up to the sky

and read up on the Sun's energy patterns,

specifically sunspots and solar flares,

as these will be good guides

for predicting the auroras.