We were lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, our first night on the ship. Below is a photo taken by another passenger on the ship.
Henning Thing, one of the Naturalists aboard, gave us a clear explanation for why the Aurora Borealis occur. The first step, involves the sun hurling streams of plasma into space.
Meanwhile, the earth is spinning with its magnetic field.
When solar wind pushes the magnetic field, it flattens the shape, and creates a magnetosphere.
As the solar wind flows past the magnetosphere with its plasma, it acts like a cosmic generator, creating millions of amps. Some of this electricity flows into the upper atmosphere and creates the aurora.
The color of the aurora depends on the wavelength of energy released. The most common colors are green, blue, and red. Here are some amazing examples of mixed color aurora.
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