Canada's native people believe these shimmering, gossamer sheets of colour overhead were the ghosts of great warriors, continuing their battles in the heavens.
It's hard not to come up with a supernatural explanation when you se the Northern Lights (known as Aurora Borealis) for the first time. You hear about them, read about them, but the actual sight of them, blowing like luminescent curtains in some celestial breeze, brings you to your knees.
The auroral glow is triggered when high-energy atomic particles erupt from the sun's surface as gigantic flares and enter the solar wind. These particles work their way into the VanAllen radiation belt surrounding the earth and some are eventually discharged into the atmosphere where they cluster around the north and south magnetic poles. The particles collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere which causes them to emit electromagnetic energy in the visible portion of the colour sprectrum.
The different colours are generated by the different gases in the atmosphere. Oxygen, bombarded by atmoci particles, glows green. Nitrogen glows blue or red.
During years of vigorous sunspot activity there are spectacular auroral displays. Because of Canada's northern location, it is the most favored country on earth for aurora watching. Aurora lights are particularly vivid on the cold clear nights between October and April.
Thank you for visiting Alberta, hope you come back again.
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