Night sky treat for Scotland
Solar flare creates spectacular northern lights show
across country
Scotland's night skies have been glowing with spectacular light
shows this week.
From Elgin to St Andrews, and North Berwick to the Borders,
people have been treated to stunning northern lights displays.
The northern lights - or aurora borealis, to give them their
posh name - look like a shimmering curtain of glowing colours,
dancing across the night sky. Normally, they are seen above the
Arctic Circle, in places like Norway.
But, thanks to some unusual sun activity, they have been visible
across Scotland and as far south as Yorkshire in England this
week.
A really strong solar storm has sent charged particles towards
Earth, called a solar wind.
When the particles collide with our atmosphere, they trigger
chemical reactions that result in vivid colours glowing across the
sky, the northern lights.
Solar storms tear across the surface of the sun every day, but
this week's storm, or flare, has been the strongest for seven
years.
Have a look for the northern lights this weekend. They are high
above the clouds, so you need to wait for a clear night. Try and
get to a dark place away from street lights. This is the best place
to see stars and to look out for the aurora borealis!
Tell us if you have seen the northern lights, or send us
your pics. Email: dailywhat@theherald.co.uk
Click
here to try our northern lights quiz.
Lesson ideas and
suggestions
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Night sky treat for Scotland
Is it a UFO? Is it an alien? Is it a flying fire fox?
No, it's a chemical reaction caused by solar winds
The strange illuminations you may have seen in the sky this week
are not UFOs or aliens. They're the northern lights.
For Sami, the people of the Arctic, the phenomenon is a common
sight. Known as the lights that can be heard, local legend has it
that they are actually caused by the flight of a mythical fire
fox.
People from more southern areas usually need to resort to
drastic measures to catch a glimpse of the aurora. Last year,
airlines put on about 30 flights just for people wanting a chance
to see the northern lights.
The idea of the three-hour flights that head as far north as
Iceland, is to cheat the weather by flying above the clouds to give
passengers an 80% chance of seeing the lights. But whether they
appear is all down to the space weather on the day.
So people in the northern half of Britain, particularly
Scotland, have really been treated this week as the night sky has
been aglow with dancing colours, visible from the comfort of our
own back gardens.
What causes the northern lights?
Every day, solar storms tear across the surface of the sun.
These solar storms blow a stream of particles towards Earth, called
the solar wind. The particles in the solar wind have lots of
energy. The energetic solar wind particles collide with the Earth's
atmosphere and hit oxygen and nitrogen atoms. Some of the energy
from the particles in the solar wind gets passed to the oxygen and
nitrogen atoms. This makes the oxygen and nitrogen atoms glow
different colours.
When can you see them?
The Earth's magnetic field pushes most of the solar wind
particles to the north and south poles. This is why the best place
to see the northern lights is in the Arctic. In the south, above
the Antarctic, you can see the southern lights. They are called
aurora astralis.
Sometimes the sun becomes very active and sends out even more
energetic solar wind particles. This is when people in the UK can
see the northern lights. This week's illuminations were caused by
the strongest solar storm since 2005.
Tell us if you have seen the northern lights, or send us
your pics. Email: dailywhat@theherald.co.uk
Click
here to try our northern lights quiz.
Lesson ideas and
suggestions
Read and discuss lesson ideas on our Facebook page
Join our mailing list (Glow login
required)