Northern Lights

The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) are a kind of phenonemon found in the sky in Alaska, Antarctica, and other Northern places of the earth. There is a similar phenonemon called the Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis, which is found in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia and New Zealand).

For seeing the Northern Lights, one should travel to Alaska, or maybe to Iceland, known as the "Land of the Midnight Sun" for the great deal of nightly luminance there.

Scientific Explanation

The effect is caused the interaction between the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field and the upper atmosphere. Solar wind is composed of charged particles, so the glancing particles in the particularly strong area of the magnetic field creates what seems like an electrical fireworks display.

See also

• Meteor
• The Golden Compass (originally published as Northern Lights)
• Saint Elmo's fire