Aurora Borealis
Recent intense solar storms produced dazzling display of Northern Lights that were visible as far south as Toronto, Canada. I missed the first one in May and in between a few minor ones. This time I drove an hour north of Toronto, stood by the side of wide-open farm fields and enjoyed the show. The colour green comes from excited Oxygen molecules hit by fast moving electrons whereas red is from excited Nitrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere. Then there are blue and purple which are rare, plus the night sky doesn't render them well. The other colours are mostly mixture of these major colours.
Aurora Borealis
Recent intense solar storms produced dazzling display of Northern Lights that were visible as far south as Toronto, Canada. I missed the first one in May and in between a few minor ones. This time I drove an hour north of Toronto, stood by the side of wide-open farm fields and enjoyed the show. The colour green comes from excited Oxygen molecules hit by fast moving electrons whereas red is from excited Nitrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere. Then there are blue and purple which are rare, plus the night sky doesn't render them well. The other colours are mostly mixture of these major colours.