Southern Lights aka Aurora Australis

Did you know there's not only Northern Lights, but also Southern Lights!!!

     While living in Fort Wainwright, Alaska I had the chance to witness the Northern Lights. Locals there would talk about the Northern Lights. They had asked me if I knew there was also Southern Lights. I didn't know the Southern Lights existed. The Southern Lights do exist and they are beautiful just like the Northern Lights!

     If you read my last blog, then you know that Aurora results from the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetic field. The Aurora Australis is caused by plasma particles from the sun that enter the atmosphere. Collisions between electrically charged particles and Earth's magnetic field ionize oxygen and nitrogen atoms, releasing light.

     Here is something new...an auroral storm can produce one trillion watts of electricity with a current of one million amps.

Aurora Australis over New Zealand

     Southern Lights are more common near the equinoxes, but this does not mean you can not see the aurora at other times. You can witness the Southern Lights at the South Pole/Polar latitudes from March to September; the rest of year the South Pole experiences 24 hours of sunlight. You can enjoy a beautiful show on a clear cold night.

     Some colors are the same and some differ from the Northern Lights. Blue and purplish-red light comes from ionized nitrogen molecules, green from oxygen molecules. Other colors include pale green and pink. The Southern Lights most common shapes are spiral curtains, arcs or streamers.        

    So if you do plan to travel and witness the auroras, be ready for show that lasts several hours!

Beautiful picture of the Southern Lights

     The Aurora Australis or Southern Lights are mesmerizing, dynamic displays of light that appear in the Antarctic skies in winter. They are, in effect, nature's light show; visual poetry penned from the quantum leaps of atmospheric gases. As those who have witnessed the Aurora can attest, few sights can equal the magic and mystery of these luminous sheets of color undulating in the frigid air of the Antarctic winter.   

http://www.antarcticconnection.com