What Are Northern Lights And When Can You See Them
The birth of the northern lights starts when the surface of the sun launches charged
particles into outer space and accidentally being caught up in the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic attraction of the North Pole is so strong causing these particles to be massively sucked to its direction eventually meeting the Earth in a rounded-belt fashion. These charged particles would then meet the thermosphere with an approximate height of 100 km above the Earth's surface and the northern lights would then be produced and become visible for us as a glimmering, moving array of light. The process is pretty much similar to how a fluorescent bulb discharges energy. Green is the most common color produced by the aurora borealis with traces of white or pink around the edges. Violet can also be visible in the center in some rare occasions. The northern lights are sometimes observed to produce traces of blue-green and an undefined color resulting from an uneven mixture of green and yellow. Red is a rare find and it will only appear when the aurora borealis goes higher or lower than its average height.
The auroral zone encircles the magnetic North Pole. The north of Vesteralen in Northern Norway is fortunate enough to be located within this auroral zone and this explains why a lot of travelers flock the district to get the best view of the northern lights. Another alternative place to see the northern lights is Tromso, which is just right in the center of the auroral zone. The Northern Hemisphere has more places to offer which are conveniently situated within the northern lights' area of coverage. The central and southern parts of Scandinavia are also reportedly receiving occasional visits as well as selected areas of Southern Canada and US Midwest but not as often as the prime locations mentioned above.
On the other hand, it is nearly impossible for people living in Central and Southern Europe to see the northern lights as it will take a heavy storm on the sun for the aurora borealis to be visible in these areas.
The southern lights are the exact opposite image pretty much a "mirror-image" of the northern lights as they occur at the same time and can be seen in an equivalent auroral zone in the Southern Hemisphere, however, not too many travelers are willing to go there because the auroral zone is located in a very remote area in Antarctica.