Everything about The Facts of the Northern Lights - Manfred Olson Planetarium

Exist other kinds of auroras? In the world, the northern lights' equivalent in the Southern Hemisphere is the southern lights they are physically the same and vary only in their place. As such, scientists expect them to take place all at once during a solar storm, but sometimes the onset of one lags behind the other."Among the more difficult aspects of nightside aurorae includes the comparison of the aurora borealis with the aurora australis," stated Steven Petrinec, a physicist at Lockheed Martin who specializes in magnetospheric and heliospheric physics.

Another aurora-like event in the world is STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Speed Enhancement). Like the northern and southern lights, STEVE is a glowing atmospheric phenomenon, but it looks a little different from its undulating auroral counterparts. "These emissions look like a narrow and distinct arc, are normally purple in color and typically include a green picket-fence structure that slowly moves westward," Petrinec told Area.

STEVE is likewise noticeable from lower latitudes, closer to the equator, than the auroras. A 2019 study published in the journal Geophysical Research study Letters discovered that STEVE is the outcome of two systems: The mauve streaks are triggered by the heating of charged particles in the upper environment, while the picket-fence structure arises from electrons falling into the environment.

Auroras take place on other worlds, too all that's required to make an aurora is an atmosphere and a magnetic field. "Auroras have been seen in the environments of all the gas giant worlds, which is not unexpected, since these worlds all have robust magnetic fields," stated Jeff Regester, a trainer of physics and astronomy at Peak University in North Carolina.

Fortunately, they happen often. "The northern lights are happening 24 hr a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year," stated professional photographer Chad Blakely, owner of northern lights tour business Lights Over Lapland. But Official Info Here does not suggest they're easy to area; you need to be at the best location at the correct time.