Table of Contents
What causes the lights of aurora Borealis?
What Causes the Aurora? Auroras result from emissions of photons in the Earth’s upper atmosphere (above 80 km, or 50 mi), from ionized nitrogen atoms regaining an electron, and from oxygen and nitrogen atoms returning from an excited state to ground state.
What elements give off colors in Auroras?
Oxygen gives off the fluorescent green and yellow colour of the aurora (most common) when hit by electrons in the solar system. Nitrogen causes blue or red colours and sometimes pink, while neon turns them orange.
Why is the Aurora Borealis Purple?
The main entities responsible for the aurora are monoatomic oxygen (O), diatomic nitrogen (N2) and ionized diatomic nitrogen (N2+). Oxygen emits either a red-orange or a lemon-green glow. N2 emits a deep red glow while its ionized form emits a deep blue/purple glow.
What gas causes green aurora?
Oxygen
Oxygen: The big player in the aurora is oxygen. Oxygen is responsible for the vivid green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and also for a deep brownish-red (wavelength of 630.0 nm). Pure green and greenish-yellow aurorae result from the excitation of oxygen.
What causes Southernlights?
The famous Northern and Southern Lights — Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis for those Latin lovers among us — are caused by high-energy particles from the Sun cascading down on Earth. As they near our planet, they interact with Earth’s magnetic field, which channels them toward the north and south magnetic poles.
What is a green aurora?
Most solar particles typically collide with our atmosphere at an altitude of around 60 to 150 miles where there are high concentrations of oxygen. When the Oxygen is “excited” at these altitudes it causes the Aurora to appear in shades of green.
What is black aurora?
Black auroras are small-scale features that show a significant reduction in optical brightness, i.e. reduced flux of particle precipitation, compared to the surrounding diffuse aurora. It typically occurs post-substorm after magnetic midnight. The anti-black aurora always moves in parallel to the black aurora.
Why is the aurora borealis different colors?
The colors in the aurora were also a source of mystery throughout human history. But science says that different gases in Earth’s atmosphere give off different colors when they are excited. Oxygen gives off the green color of the aurora, for example. Nitrogen causes blue or red colors.
What element is responsible for the colors of the Aurora?
Element Emission Colors. Oxygen: The big player in the aurora is oxygen. Oxygen is responsible for the vivid green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and also for a deep brownish red (wavelength of 630.0 nm). Pure green and greenish yellow aurorae result from excitation of oxygen. Nitrogen: Nitrogen emits blue (multiple wavelengths) and red light.
Why does the bottom edge of an Aurora get purple?
The bottom edge of a green auroral curtain gets this purple color when auroral elec-trons are accelerated to very high energy (Figures 7-8). On occasion the aurora gets a deep red color. This comes from higher altitudes, around 120-180 miles (200-300 km). It is again the oxygen atom that is responsible for this color.
What color would auroral lights be if the atmosphere were neon?
If our atmosphere were neon instead of oxygen and nitrogen, what color would auroral lights be? You guessed it, orange! Lighter gases high in the ionosphere, like hydrogen and helium, make colors like blue and purple, but our eyes cannot always see them in the night sky.