Aurora is a natural light display in the Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions. Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind. The word aurora is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, who travelled from east to west announcing the coming of the sun.
About Aurora in brief
Aurora is a natural light display in the Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions. Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind. The word aurora is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, who travelled from east to west announcing the coming of the sun. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis or the northern lights. The aurora australis is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia. A geomagnetic storm causes the auroral ovals to expand, bringing aurora to lower latitudes. Other types of auroras have been observed from space, e.g. the capta aurora, which stretches across the sunward across the polar cusps. These are relatively infrequent and poorly understood. Other effects occur such as flickering aurora and subvisual aurora. In addition to all these, a weak glow can be observed around the two polar cps, separating the ones that were close to the Earth from those that were remotely close to it. The glow can also be seen at high altitudes, where aurora emissions are swept into the tail of the tail and close to those that are remotely close by, such as near the equator. It is possible for some particles to return, or mirror, the angle, before entering the atmosphere to collide with the denser molecules there.
This is called the mirror effect and can be seen over a range of altitudes if the angle becomes 90° if the atmosphere and the Sun are at the same time in the same direction. It can also occur at low latitudes where the angle is not 90°, if the Sun is in the opposite direction to the observer, or at high latitudes when the sun is between the observer and the poleward horizon. The form of the auroras is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imparted to the precipitating particles. Most auroras occur in a band known as. the \”auroral zone\”, which is typically 3° to 6° wide in latitude and between 10° and 20° from the geom Magnetic poles at all local times, most clearly seen at night against a dark sky. The instantaneous distribution of aurora is slightly different, being centered about 3–5° nightward of the magnetic pole, so that auroral arcs reach furthest toward the Equator when the pole in question is in between the magnet and Sun. Aurora can’t be seen directly overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the polewards horizon as a greenish glow, or sometimes a faint red, as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. Auroras also occur poleward as either diffuse patches or arcs, which can be subvisual. They are usually seen in latitudes below the Auroral zone, when a geom magnetic storm temporarily enlarges the auroran oval.
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This page is based on the article Aurora published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 11, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
