Science Fact Finder | Space - What Are Auroras And How Often Do They Appear?

What are auroras and how often do they appear?

Auroras are displays of colored light in the night sky, which typically occur in polar regions. There are two types of aurora: the Aurora borealis (Northern Lights) and the Aurora australis (Southern Lights).

Auroras are produced when charged particles from the sun, called solar wind, enter the Earth's atmosphere. This stream of particles becomes trapped for a time in the outermost parts of the Earth's magnetic field, eventually spiraling down toward the north and south magnetic poles. In the process they ionize (create an electric charge within) the oxygen and nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to glow.

There is no fixed frequency with which auroras occur. Auroras are dependent upon solar wind, which in turn is dependent upon sunspot activity. Sunspots are dark areas of magnetic disturbance on the surface of the sun. It has...

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