However, some observers believe that they can see from the colors of the clouds that there are also northern lights in our northern neighbours, Weer.nl reports. The aurora borealis was followed by an eruption on the surface of the sun that caused a magnetic storm. Earth passed into the storm’s orbit on Sunday.
The aurora forms when charged particles from the sun at velocities of hundreds of kilometers per second collide with nitrogen and oxygen molecules high in our atmosphere. This gives the molecules in our atmosphere an increased energy level. To get rid of this increased energy level, the particles emit energy in the form of light: the aurora borealis.
As the Earth’s magnetic field deflects charged particles from the Sun toward the poles, the aurora can be seen primarily in a band around the North Pole and South Pole regions. The spectacle’s activity depends on the speed at which the Sun releases particles and the amount of charged particles that end up in the atmosphere.
When volcanic eruptions occur on the surface of the Sun, a “cloud” of these charged particles is thrown into the universe at once. Sometimes, such a solar storm can cause so severe a disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field that GPS systems and radios can’t function properly.
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