Images of Rare Aurora in Southern Tennessee
Posted on Nov 04, 2011 10:36:22 AM | William Cooke | 3 Comments    |
 
The colors of emitted light within an aurora depend on the initial energy of the charged particles (mostly electrons) cascading into Earth's atmosphere.  Electrons with higher initial energies are able to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere, whereas those with lower initial energies lose all their energy at higher altitudes. The blue aurora emitted from low-altitude molecular nitrogen is most commonly seen at higher latitudes, such as in Canada and Alaska, where high-energy electrons are more common. Red aurorae mostly result from lower-energy electrons reacting with atomic oxygen at high altitudes, which can occur at lower latitudes (<50 degrees) during extremely strong geomagnetic storms -- such as is seen in images here.  The auroral electrons that make it into the low-latitude atmosphere usually do not have enough energy to reach molecular nitrogen.  This is why low-latitude aurorae are almost always red.


Credit: Jeremy Myers, NASA Marshall Engineer
 

Tags : Bill Cooke, Marshall Space Flight Center, Meteoroid Environment Office, aurora  

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3 Comments so far ( Post your own )
3 On Nov 09, 2011 09:31:15 AM  alexis geisler  added a comment on your blog post. 

it looks rare deffinatley what do you guys think on the whole 2012 thing please email me your thoughts.

2 On Nov 08, 2011 12:21:57 AM  Jessiesgyrl  added a comment on your blog post. 

For evab; ok, would you mind adding a little more to your comment? Sorry, I dont get what your saying. Thanks.

1 On Nov 04, 2011 02:50:39 PM  evab  added a comment on your blog post. 

If sex is moonlight I am afraid of Boreal Aurora if stars are superior what is happening inside us ????

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