5 Simple Facts about the Northern Lights

This text will give you a quick idea about what the northern lights are and how they appear. The northern lights are sometimes called by the latin name Aurora Borealis, or more often just aurora.

The Northern Lights explained in one sentence:

When electrically charged particles thrown out from the sun collides with the earth’s atomsphere a light is generated.

A strange but amazing natural phenomenon: Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.

FACT 1: Sun activity

Everything has to do with the sun. Our sun is constantly throwing out physical particles into space, not only light. These particles are called plasma. Certain parts of the sun’s surface, such as sunspots or coronal holes, brings us higher volumes of plasma. When such a particle cloud hits earth the chances for the northern lights to appear will rise.

FACT 2: Magnetism

The plasma thrown out from the sun is electrically charged, and thereby also magnetic. If the magnetic polarity is northward the plasma cloud will repel from the earth and the chance of seeing the northern lights is low. If it is pointing southwards it will get stuck in the earths magnetic field and this will significantly increase the chance for the northern lights to be seen.

FACT 3: Collision

When plasma particles are stuck in the earths atmosphere they are eventually drawn down to earth and collide with the molecules in the upper atmosphere. This collision generates light which we can see as the northern lights. Or southern lights if you happen to be closer to the south pole (i.e. Antarctica).

FACT 4: Location

The northern lights can only be seen in the far north, close to the arctic circle. This is because the earth's magnetic field lines point to the polar regions. When the aurora is strong it might stretch further south, into the northern parts of Central Europe and into northern US. To see them you need to find a location with a view to the north that’s free from trees, hills or buildings that can block the view.

FACT 5: Darkness

The northern lights are faint. That’s why they can only be seen when it’s dark. Daylight, or even a light night sky makes it impossible to see. This is why the northern lights can’t be seen in May, June or July. The night sky up in the north is simply to bright throughout the night. Light pollution can also make it harder to detect the aurora.

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