Aurora: The Northern Lights

'Dawn of the North' that is what it means. It is a beautiful display of colored light that makes a mystifying band over the magnetic North and South pole of the Earth. The bright dancing lights of the aurora, also called the 'Northern Lights' are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth's atmosphere. It is known as 'Aurora Borealis' in the North and 'Aurora Australis' in the south. Auroral displays come in many colors, although pale greenish and pinkish shades are common. Among other less observed colors are red, yellow, green, blue and violet. These lights are of various forms from patches or scattered clouds of lights to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow. Over the magnetic poles, they appear as an irregularly shaped oval. Recent observations by scientists say that the 'northern' and 'southern' auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time, with simlar shapes and colors. 

Quite fascinated? But if you want to watch I guess you need to wait for another 10 years, because the last time its peek time came was in 2103 and it can only be seen roughly after 11 years. In North, Winter is a good season to see lights. Long periods of darkness provide good oppurtunities to watch the 'mystic' lights and the best time is the local midnight hour.

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