Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Northern Lights

Another dream which I want to fulfil and very hard to do is to watch the NORTHERN LIGHTS!

I just realized that I want to see Northern Lights more than I want to see Pyramids. Haiz.. But a trip to see Northern lights is so much more expensive than going Egypt! :( Sad..

I have decided already that I will save money for these trips which I must go before I die. The first one and at the top of the list is to see Northern Lights. I am going to give up the idea of going Tibet for this. Unfortunately, I don't know if there is a definite estimation of when the lights will appear. If not I spend so much go there, I might not see it.. then I will be super sad.

Talking so much about Northern Lights, many people might not know what they are. Let me introduce. Er hm..

OK, the scientific term of Northern Lights is called Aurora Borealis. Borealis means 'Northern' in Latin. As you can guess from the name, Northern lights can only be seen at the very north of earth in places like Greenland, Alaska, Yellowknife etc.

There is also another term called Southern Lights, Aurora Australis. Australis means 'Southern' in Latin. Apparently you can only see Southern Lights at the very south of earth which I think is only at Antarctica.

Copied this from a website to explain the appearance of Northern Lights:

The Aurora Borealis forms when charged protons and electrons emitted from the sun as a solar wind are drawn in towards us by Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atoms and molecules in our atmosphere. These collisions result in countless little bursts of light that make up the aurora. Collisions with oxygen produce red and green auroras, while nitrogen produces pink and purple colors. The magnetic field is more concentrated around the Poles, hence this reaction encircles the polar regions of the earth and occurs at an altitude of 40-400 miles (65-650 km) in a zone called the Auroral Oval.

Nitrogen produce pink and purple! They are the most beautiful in my opinion!!!

Pink and purple Aurora.

But it's said that red auroras are the rarest and this one appeared about 50 years ago. It's like sky on fire!

Green Aurora~ Look at the beautiful spiral shape.

With stars as background!



So so so... nice right?!!! So romantic also to see such beautiful lights in the sky. It's in dreamland or fairyland.

This is how the northern lights look like from space. They are hovering over Earth's northern hemisphere.

Haiz... I already decided lor. I will save money to go see them one day. Must go there before I die.

Btw, these lights are not only lights. They are dancing lights and they twist and turn when on display. See the video below and you get what I mean....

4 comments:

Kongming said...

guess i need at least US 4billion if i wanna c the lights from outer space

Miko said...

erm.. that i dunno... dun have any reports on how much to watch it in space.

A.C. said...

Seems like you have to go extreme north to see this! Anyway, if got chance I'd like to experience it as well, and also midnight sun or polar night..

Miko said...

I a planning to go greenland see it. But unfortunately, if you go there to see northern lights then u wont be able to see midnight sun. you can only choose one.