After the northern lights graced the skies on Sunday night, Airdrie residents were in for another celestial show on Monday evening, as the Aurora Borealis dazzled the skies for a second night.
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Amanda Ku posted this incredible video of the Northern Lights on social media. "Dancing like crazy! 11:30pm NW Calgary, Oct 7"
Residents flooded social media with stunning photos of the northern lights across Airdrie and the surrounding areas.
The northern lights (aurora borealis) and southern lights (aurora australis) are polar light displays near Earth’s magnetic poles. The phenomenon occurs when the Sun emits charged particles through the solar wind, redirected by Earth's magnetic field towards the poles. When these particles collide with gases in the upper atmosphere, they create colourful displays similar to neon lights.
According to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Auroras are most visible in northern Canada and are expected from August to May, particularly around the spring and fall equinoxes.
Winter offers better viewing due to darker skies. Increased solar activity can make auroras more vibrant and visible farther south. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun can also intensify auroras. The lights come in various colours, including green, red, and blue.
Suppose you're wondering why auroras produce different colours. In that case, several factors influence their appearance: the types of gases in Earth's atmosphere, the altitude at which the aurora forms, atmospheric density, and the energy level.
Auroras typically occur at altitudes between 100 and 300 kilometres but can reach 600 kilometres. The most common colour observed is green, caused by charged particles colliding with oxygen molecules at these altitudes.
There's also pink and dark red, which appear on the lower edge of the aurora when nitrogen molecules are impacted at around 100-kilometer altitude.
Red auroras tend to be higher at 300 to 400 kilometres, where oxygen atoms produce red aurora, while purple auroras are when hydrogen and helium molecules create these colours. However, they are less visible against the night sky.
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