By Mish Denlinger
Far north in the night sky, a
faint glow appears on the horizon. Green and red
flames of light stretch across the sky. A glowing
curtain of light forms, waving and swirling above
you. As the lights fade away the dark night closes
over you once again.
Auroras are about 80 to
130 km (50 miles) above Earth. The width and size
of the ring change each time. Usually only people
high in the north (like Alaska) or south get to see
them.
They are caused by charged
particles in space that get near the Earth's
magnetic field getting pulled in and trapped. Once
they are trapped, the particles spiral down the
magnetic field line towards the Earth's magnetic
poles. It is here at the poles where the particles
hit the gases in the Earth's atmosphere. These
collisions give off energy that we see as colored
light.
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