How do auroras form, and what causes the colors we see? A 🧵... This is one of the most common questions I get on social media, and one I have received countless times over the past month, so let's dive in together! - ThreadSky

misstyger.bsky.social•113 days ago

Very cool reference I found when the Aurora was showing up near me🥰🥰

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jodashd.bsky.social•113 days ago

Plymouth, Massachusetts. 10/10/24.

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missekay.bsky.social•113 days ago

I never thought I'd be lucky enough to see them, but this was right outside my backdoor in southern colorado

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kelazdesertsky.bsky.social•113 days ago

Seeing this in person is on my bucket list. I appreciate the explanation.

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kashmire.bsky.social•113 days ago

Wawo Amzing ❤️❤️

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dopplerjess.bsky.social•114 days ago

📌

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marthskoien.bsky.social•113 days ago

🌬️✨✨✨✨💕

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drcquincy.bsky.social•114 days ago

Thank you, nicely done!

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nikkimc24.bsky.social•113 days ago

Isn’t it sun flares coming up against the earths atmosphere? I think that’s what it is. I see them regularly where I live and never tire of how beautiful they are

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neworld-ispossible.bsky.social•113 days ago

Sadly, I’ve never seen one, but still sounds interesting!

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dansbackcountry.bsky.social•114 days ago

Nice pictures

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batoolali.bsky.social•114 days ago

The answer could've easily become complicated with a lot of jargon but you explained it really well 👏🏻

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jasontinsley.bsky.social•114 days ago

Hey, you're on here!

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albordedelamor.bsky.social•114 days ago

📌

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frasersmum.bsky.social•114 days ago

📌

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vincentledvina.bsky.social•114 days ago

Auroras are formed by chemical reactions in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The physical process is similar to how a neon lamp works – charged particles such as ions and electrons stream in along Earth’s magnetic field lines from outer space into the atmosphere.

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mccainsuzanne.bsky.social•114 days ago

Important to mention the influence of solar activity.

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vincentledvina.bsky.social•114 days ago

These particles hit gas molecules as they move closer to Earth’s surface, sifting through the atmosphere like a game of Plinko.

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lindsey19.bsky.social•114 days ago

Love this analogy 😂

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vincentledvina.bsky.social•114 days ago

These particles can make many collisions with gases as they move closer to the Earth’s surface, but as they penetrate deeper, they lose energy and encounter denser and denser gas, increasing the rate of collisions.

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vincentledvina.bsky.social•114 days ago

The higher the energy of the particles coming into Earth’s atmosphere, the further they will penetrate. The particles can’t penetrate all the way to the ground – even when they have lots of energy. They are eventually stopped by a thicker layer of air around 100 km in altitude.

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vincentledvina.bsky.social•114 days ago

The colors of the aurora are blue, red, green, and purple. All other colors are due to mixing of these colors. The colors of the aurora vary with altitude and are due to the type of gas in Earth’s atmosphere being excited by particles from outer space.

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vincentledvina.bsky.social•114 days ago

A typical aurora can be built from the top down. Particles streaming into Earth’s atmosphere first encounter O+ atoms up to 250 miles or 400 km in altitude. These oxygen ions glow a deep red color.

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leoclarepark.bsky.social•114 days ago

Thank you for this very interesting as we have been a few in New Zealand of late

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niais.bsky.social•114 days ago

It's probably the space lasers.

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niais.bsky.social•114 days ago

(just kidding, I spent the whole time we were in a field a few months ago telling anyone who would listen ACTUAL PARTICLES FROM THE SUN ARE RUNNING INTO OUR MAGNETOSPHERE AND THAT'S WHAT WE ARE SEEING THIS IS INCREDIBLE SPACE MAGIC.)

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sheesusnat.bsky.social•114 days ago

I love this so much. I went aurora hunting with my sister last month (successfully!) and she asked why the colors happen and I could only give a vague "something about the height in the atmosphere?" And now I can show her this instead! Thank you!

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curiouslurk.bsky.social•113 days ago

Share your hunting tips!

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sheesusnat.bsky.social•113 days ago

I don't have any special tricks, unfortunately! Follow some good aurora/spaceweather accounts to know when geomagnetic storms are ongoing (https://spaceweather.com is a great place to check!). Know the KP index for your area (I'm like kp-8), if it's close to that, get to the DARKEST spot you can!

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sheesusnat.bsky.social•113 days ago

And then just watch and wait. Often it's easier to see via camera than naked eye (especially a 15-30sec exposure). These are a couple shots I got from Oct, 15s exposure (a little blurry because I didn't have a tripod 😅)

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ktulurose.bsky.social•114 days ago

This is brilliant 👏 thank you 😊

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airwaves97.bsky.social•114 days ago

Nature is truly fascinating!

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twotreehouse.bsky.social•113 days ago

Is it really chemical reaction that emits light? New elements are formed as a part this process. I always thought that transition between energy states emits photos that gives light.

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