Aurora borealis!

Beautiful! Gorgeous! Is it not?!



This fascination is also commonly referred to as the northern lights! Have you ever wondered what causes these beautiful colors in the night sky that I will never get to see in my life unless I move farther north the closer you are to the poles? Simply put, particles emitted by the sun that are charged up interact with the atoms and molecules in our atmosphere to the point where it causes them to light up.

So, has anybody here ever seen aurora borealis? How common is it in your area? How about those who haven't: how much would you like to see the northern lights with your own eyes?

They're gorgeous, I would really like to see them one day.
Just an amazing show that only nature can deliver. :)

I've never seen them, and I live in Minnesota. I really want to see them.

I think they're possible to see if I visit northern Minnesota. (I live near the twin cities.)

I've never seen one, but they're soooo fascinating!

Definitely something to add to my to-do list.

I'd love love love to see them. It's on my bucket list, actually. I'd have to visit Lapland or Iceland to see them, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready for the cold up there.

Living in California, it should be obvious that I've never seen any northern lights, but I do wish to see them with my own eyes.

I definitely dont see them in Florida haha

I would love to see the northern lights one day!

colours said:

Yeah, living in Florida means I'm kinda missing out, sadly. It's a shame, because I'd really love to see those at one point in my life. D:

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You're missing out? Don't you mean we're missing out? ;)

I'm very lucky, allegedly I've seen them in my childhood once or twice (my parents claim to have never seen them before then, but my mum also makes out like she had a relatively poor childhood yet was given a brand new car on her 17th birthday so who knows), but I only have one memory of seeing them when I was about 12 or 13. It wasn't anything like them photos as I'm in the North of England, but it was still mightily impressive.

Something that for some reason never occurred to me despite there being no logical reason it shouldn't exist - the upside-down people have Aurora Australis! Although I imagine its quite hard to see unless your Argentine, Chilean or Kiwi due to the Earth being top-heavy with habitable landmass.

Is there a reason why you only tend to see it in the northernmost/southernmost latitudes? As I understand it it's just a side effect of solar winds interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere, which covers the whole planet, so you think it'd occur kinda anywhere.

though chances are I just have shit wrong

Nah said:

Is there a reason why you only tend to see it in the northernmost/southernmost latitudes? As I understand it it's just a side effect of solar winds interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere, which covers the whole planet, so you think it'd occur kinda anywhere.

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It's because at the poles are where the strongest magnetic forces are.

Here's a good image to possibly explain why:

Well damn! my country is near the equator so it's impossible. But if there is some kind of polar shift that causes the earth's magnetic field to lie somewhere near the equator ( which is impossible in another thousands of years) then hell yeah! I can see one xD

But it really is beautiful...beautiful ^.^

I remember back in 2012 when the earth kept getting flooded with solar energy that forecasters were predicting loads of aurora borealis even in areas that often would never get to see the phenomenon. One night I can recall the sky being a distant shade of red, and it was a clear night (so no real light pollution from lights bouncing off the clouds). I thought right then that the red in the sky could have been an effect of the enhanced reactions.

I dunno, maybe I'm crazy considering that this was from Florida lmao

Tsutarja said:

I remember back in 2012 when the earth kept getting flooded with solar energy that forecasters were predicting loads of aurora borealis even in areas that often would never get to see the phenomenon. One night I can recall the sky being a distant shade of red, and it was a clear night (so no real light pollution from lights bouncing off the clouds). I thought right then that the red in the sky could have been an effect of the enhanced reactions.

I dunno, maybe I'm crazy considering that this was from Florida lmao

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Sorry to bust your bubble but...



Can't imagine that wasn't just light pollution - on the clearest nights you see it from further away than you expect. East Coast of the U.S. is crazy over-populated.

Amore said:

Sorry to bust your bubble but...

Spoiler:

Can't imagine that wasn't just light pollution - on the clearest nights you see it from further away than you expect. East Coast of the U.S. is crazy over-populated.

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The thing is though, it was a different shade in the sky than what I'd usually see when it's dark outside, and it was around the time as well that news was coming out about enhanced solar activity. You probably are in fact right though considering how that map shows the entire shape of Tampa Bay alone.