Without a doubt, The Polar Lights are one of the most of not the most beautiful natural phenomena of our world. They are so magnificent that they almost look surreal. This article explores the reasons why such phenomena happen.

Unbeknownst to most people, Polar Lights can occur both in the northern as well as the southern hemispheres. When in the north, they are called the Northern lights and vice-versa.  Aurora Borealis is the scientific name given to the awe inspiring northern lights. Similarly, the southern lights are known as Aurora Australis. It was German physicist and astronomer Otto Rudolf Martin Brendel (1862–1939) who took the first known photograph of the aurora borealis. 

All of us have one question: How are these lights even formed ? Well, they first come into life on the surface of the sun when a cloud of gas is released after increased solar activity. This is referred to by scientists as a Coronal Mass Ejection. If one of these reaches earth, taking about 2 to 3 days, it collides with the Earth’s magnetic field. This field is invisible, and if you could see its shape, it would make Earth look like a comet with a long magnetic ‘tail’ stretching a million miles behind Earth in the opposite direction of the sun (www.loc.gov). On collision with the earth’s magnetic field, the coronal mass ejection acts a catalyst for various detailed and intricate changes which occur in the magnetic tail region. These changes lead to the production of a large amount of charged particles. These particles move along the lines of the magnetic field until they reach the polar regions. However, the real luminescent effect is produced when these particles in the upper atmosphere collide with nitrogen and oxygen atoms. This produces a sharp dazzling light. I hope this article has been successful in illustrating the causes of auroras !