Northern Lights' Festive Show Captured in Stunning NASA Image

The northern lights — the swirling, cloud-like options on this picture — stretched throughout northern Canada throughout the nighttime hours of Dec. 22, 2016.

Credit score: Jesse Allen / NASA Earth Observatory

The northern lights placed on a festive present over northern Canada simply earlier than Christmas, and a NASA satellite tv for pc captured a surprising infrared picture of the spectacular show.

The night time after the winter solstice, NASA's Suomi NPP spacecraft recorded the northern lights, or aurora borealis, throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories in Canada on the night time of Dec. 22. From 512 miles (824 kilometers) above the Earth, the satellite tv for pc's Seen Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite captured the northern lights show, which appeared as glowing swirls of clouds over northern Canada, NASA's Earth Observatory mentioned in a press release.

The northern lights happen when particles from the solar often known as the photo voltaic wind work together with Earth's magnetic area, in response to NASA scientists. As a result of the particles are charged, they will trigger electrical present modifications within the area that then ship energetic particles into the higher ambiance's gases. When the particles hit the gases, they cost them, and when the gases launch this gained vitality, the aurora glows are triggered.

Because the gases hand over the vitality, they launch photons (gentle particles) of particular wavelengths, creating completely different colours. For instance, researchers have discovered that oxygen atoms emit inexperienced and generally crimson gentle, whereas nitrogen is extra orange or crimson. [Aurora Photos: See Breathtaking Views of the Northern Lights]

Whereas such photo voltaic wind occasions can occur anytime, the photo voltaic storms that create probably the most magnificent shows of the northern lights happen roughly each 11 years, in response to NASA researchers. The final cycle peak occurred in 2013, although NASA researchers reported that photo voltaic most was the weakest noticed in a century.

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