Aurora Borealis
The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is a natural display of lights in the earth’s atmosphere at night. When a solar flare sends particles out into space, Auroras are often the result here on earth. The Aurora can light the night sky a variety of colors, each caused by solar particles interacting with different gasses in the atmosphere. Green and yellow are produced by an interaction with oxygen. Atomic nitrogen reactions create blue colors, and molecular nitrogen causes purple colors. All-red Auroras, though rare, are produced by interactions with high altitude oxygen (200 miles up in the atmosphere). The Aurora Borealis is generally seen far north (Canada, Alaska, Iceland), though a strong solar flare can cause a large geomagnetic storm which can result in the Aurora Borealis being seen much further south down into the continental US. When photographing the Auroras, most photographers aim to capture the “dancing” effect, though you can capture images with stunning sheets of light instead of dancing if you change the camera settings.
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