 |
What is the aurora borealis? |
Space
An aurora is one of the strangest and most beautiful things to happen in the sky. They look like streaks, swirls, patches, and clouds of bright color that stand out against the stars! You might see a lot of blues and greens, along with reds, pinks and purples.
Auroras are most often seen if you live very far north, like in Canada, or very far south, like in Australia.
What causes them is a very complex chain of events that happen in our atmosphere, but the main cause of them is pretty simple: the Sun. The Sun gives off a lot of energy. It gives off the energy that we feel as heat and see as light. It also gives off a powerful wind of energized particles, called solar wind. Sometimes, when the solar wind hits the gas particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, the energy causes the gases get excited and start to glow!
The reason auroras are usually only seen very far north or south is because the Earth has a magnetic field. Just like a bar magnet you might hold in your hand, things are attracted to the poles (the ends). The poles of Earth are right around where you’d guess: the North and South Poles. Particles that travel from the Sun, pushed by its energy, are pulled to the poles. That’s where they hit the gases in the atmosphere.
Auroras that happen in the north are called aurora borealis. Auroras that happen in the south are called aurora australis.
Solar Energy
The Sun is incredibly powerful. Think about all the ways we use its energy. During the day, we use it to see! Plants use the Sun for energy to grow, and we eat plants for energy. Even when we eat meat, chances are the animal that the meat came from ate a plant somewhere along the way.
The Sun lets us see, and it let’s us grow by giving us food. What else does the Sun do for us? Think about solar panels that collect power. Think about water that needs energy to evaporate and make rain.
If we didn’t have the Sun, life would be very different on the planet, if there were even life at all!
