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If you are lucky enough and living anywhere between New Hampshire and Nebraska, you might get an opportunity to watch a rare cosmic light show, this week. People in some parts of Canada and northern parts of the United States could see the northern lights.
So here’s what’s happening.
As and when charged particles from the sun hit the Earth's atmosphere, a permanent ring of Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights appear around the North Pole. In the South Pole, these lights are called the Aurora Australis.
These charged particles are nothing but electrons, which interact with molecular oxygen and nitrogen present in the atmosphere. Electrons transfer their energy to the gases thereby, exciting them into higher energy states. After a point of time, the molecules ease back into lower energy states and the excess energy is released in the form of northern lights.
Right from New Hampshire to Nebraska will have clear sky conditions and therefore, the best situation for viewing the aurora. People might not be that lucky in the northern Rockies, northern Plains and the Pacific Northwest. Blame it upon cloudy sky conditions across most parts of these regions. In large swaths of Canada, people will miss the northern lights as they will also remain overcast.
The key requisite for getting a glimpse of the aurora is being in a dark area blessed with a clear view of the northern horizon. One should literally travel far from the lights and pollution emitted by cities and towns.
In the image below, we can see a photographer on the beach at Uttakleiv (Norway, Scandinavia) taking pictures of the Northern Lights.
Image courtesy - The Guardian
You can also go camping under the Northern Lights. In the picture below we can see people tent camping under Northern Lights at Tombstone Territorial Park in Yukon.
Image courtesy - douglasshirase.deviantart.com
Below is a spectacular view of Northern Lights over Mount Kirkjufell, Iceland.
Image courtesy - Good Housekeeping
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