Discover - Science

Wednesday, 10 February 2010


Science picture of the day – the northern lights

Science picture of the day – the northern lights

This stunning picture of the northern lights was taken in the Sunnmøre Alps in Norway.

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, can be seen in the far north on clear, dark nights. They occur when charged particles from the sun (the solar wind) collide with molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. 

The electric charges on the particles mean that they follow the Earth's magnetic field, which travels towards the north and south poles. When the lights occur near the South Pole, they are known as the southern lights, or aurora australis.


Our thanks to Geir T Øye for the picture. You can see lots of his other cool images at www.skyoye.com.





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  • nimmy (Age 10) wrote on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 @ 16:08

    Wow that's so cool!