However, the earth's magnetic field is weaker at either pole and therefore some particles enter the earth's atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light that we perceive as the dancing lights of the north and the south.
The lights of the Aurora generally extend from 80 kilometres 50 miles to as high as kilometres miles above the earth's surface. Northern Lights can be seen in the northern or southern hemisphere, in an irregularly shaped oval centred over each magnetic pole. The lights are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south.
Scientists have learned that in most instances northern and southern auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time, with similar shapes and colors. Because the phenomena occurs near the magnetic poles, northern lights have been seen as far south as New Orleans in the western hemisphere, while similar locations in the east never experience the mysterious lights.
However the best places to watch the lights in North America are in the northwestern parts of Canada, particularly the Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Auroral displays can also be seen over the southern tip of Greenland and Iceland, the northern coast of Norway and over the coastal waters north of Siberia.
Southern auroras are not often seen as they are concentrated in a ring around Antarctica and the southern Indian Ocean. Areas that are not subject to 'light pollution' are the best places to watch for the lights. Areas in the north, in smaller communities, tend to be best. Researchers have also discovered that auroral activity is cyclic, peaking roughly every 11 years. The next peak period is Winter in the north is generally a good season to view lights. He called it aurora for the Roman goddess of the dawn, and boreas , which is the Greek word for the north wind.
There are many different folktales about the northern lights. It would have been rare to see the northern lights in China, but early Chinese legends about the northern lights have to do with dragons! The lights were believed to be a celestial battle between good and evil dragons who breathed fire across the sky. Photo by bm. There are many Indigenous legends about the northern lights all across North America.
Some spoke of them as torches of giants in the sky or the souls of animals they hunted like deer, whales or salmon. Other legends spoke of the lights as a powerful spirit who assisted shamans; a torch-lit path to help souls along their journey; or the light from the fire built by the creator.
In Finland, where the northern lights are very bright, their myth involves a sly little arctic fox. It ran so quickly across the snow that its tail made sparks fly into the night sky, creating the northern lights. The aurora borealis, also known as the 'northern lights', is one of the most spectacular displays in the night sky.
What is the science behind these ethereal curtains of light? The sight filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely conceivable. As if from Heaven itself, great curtains of delicate light hung and trembled. Pale green and rose-pink, and as transparent as the most fragile fabric, and at the bottom edge a profound and fiery crimson like the fires of Hell, they swung and shimmered loosely with more grace than the most skilful dancer.
Lyra thought she could even hear them: a vast distant whispering swish. The aurora can be seen near the poles of both the northern and southern hemisphere. In the north the display is known as the aurora borealis; in the south it is called the aurora australis. These 'northern' and 'southern lights' have fascinated, frightened and inspired humans for centuries. More recently, photographers have gone to remarkable lengths to try and capture the beauty of these atmospheric events.
See spectacular aurora photography at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition. The lights we see in the night sky are in actual fact caused by activity on the surface of the Sun.
Solar storms on our star's surface give out huge clouds of electrically charged particles. These particles can travel millions of miles, and some may eventually collide with the Earth. This is why aurora activity is concentrated at the magnetic poles.
What we are seeing therefore are atoms and molecules in our atmosphere colliding with particles from the Sun. The lowest part of an aurora is typically around 80 miles above the Earth's surface. However, the top of a display may extend several thousand miles above the Earth.
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