There are two types of aurora: the Aurora borealis (Northern Lights)
and the Aurora australis (Southern Lights).Auroras are produced when charged particles from the sun, called solar wind,
enter the Earth's atmosphere. This stream of particles becomes trapped for a
time in the outermost parts of the Earth's magnetic field, eventually spiraling
down toward the north and south magnetic poles. In the process they ionize
(create an electric charge within) the oxygen and nitrogen gas in the
atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to glow.
Sources: Engelbert, Phillis. Astronomy and Space: From the Big Bang to the
BigCrunch, vol. 1, pp. 45; Hopkins, Jeanne. Glossary of Astronomy and
Astrophysics, p. 10; World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 1, pp. 891-92.
Alaska is a place I would love to visit in my life time. The main reason I would like to go to alaska is because of the Northern Lighst.the Aurora Borealis looks very beautiful in this picture and I love how the picture also show the constellations.
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