THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
THE LONGEST LIST OF THE LONGEST STUFF AT THE LONGEST DOMAIN NAME AT LONG LAST

Aurora Borealis

The Northern Lights are a beautiful spectacle that takes place in the northern part of Alaska. The natural light show, that is considered one of the natural Seven Wonders of the World, is so brilliant that it can be seen from many different parts of the world. Although it may seem as though these lights are magical, there are actually scientific reasons for why this beauty transforms the night sky into something truly special.

These lights, also called Aurora Borealis, are caused by the locations of the sun that are hotter than other parts of the sun. These ‘hot spots’ as they are known, produce solar wind and that wind travels through the Earth’s atmosphere. The molecules in the wind gain speed and get hotter and they start to glow. Depending on how hot the hot spots are, they produce more wind and the lights become more active.

The Northern Lights are comprised of many different colours including green, red, blue, and yellow. The different colours are created when different types of gases hit different heights in the atmosphere. Along with the many different colours, they can also have many different brightness levels. On Earth, brightness is measured on a scale where the Milky Way is the brightest and the full moon is the dimmest. The Northern Lights range all over this scale.

There are also different types of light within the Northern Lights. The first is called Quity Arces. This type of light gives the appearance of curtains or bands of light. The light can also appear as shafts or bundles of light and that type is called Raide Arces. The third type is appropriately called Diffuse Patches due to their thin and scattered appearance. The lights also range greatly in thickness, with some of them being over 100 meters thick. Some are also hundreds of kilometers tall and over one thousand kilometers in length.

Although the scientific reason is known today as the cause for the lights, there used to be many myths about them as they continued to be one of the last mysteries of the natural world. It was once believed in Norway that dead warriors were fighting and this caused the lights in the sky. The Vikings believed them to be messengers from the female god Odin and that she would mark those that were to be killed in battle. Those in Lapps and Finland believed that the lights were messengers sent by God.

Of course the Northern Lights can still be seen today. Because they are only visible in some parts of the world, Alaska gets many visitors every year, each one hoping to catch a glimpse of the mystical lights. 

Aurora Borealis

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