Seen Effects of Solar Flares and Prominences
The aurora borealis (the Northern Lights) and the aurora australis (the Southern Lights) have always fascinated mankind, and people even travel thousands of miles just to see the brilliant light shows in the earth's atmosphere. The auroras, both surrounding the north magnetic pole (aurora borealis) and south magnetic pole (aurora australis) occur when highly charged electrons from the solar wind interact with elements in the earth's atmosphere. Solar winds stream away from the sun at speeds of about 1 million miles per hour. When they reach the earth, some 40 hours after leaving the sun, they follow the lines of magnetic force generated by the earth's core and flow through the magnetosphere, a teardrop-shaped area of highly charged electrical and magnetic fields.
As the electrons enter the earth's upper atmosphere, they will encounter atoms of oxygen and nitrogen at altitudes from 20 to 200 miles above the earth's surface. The color of the aurora depends on which atom is struck, and the altitude of the meeting.
Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude All of the magnetic and electrical forces react with one another in constantly shifting combinations. These shifts and flows can be seen as the auroras "dance," moving along with the atmospheric currents that can reach 20,000,000 amperes at 50,000 volts. (In contrast, the circuit breakers in your home will disengage when current flow exceeds 15-30 amperes at 120 volts.)
The auroras generally occur along the "auroral ovals," which center on the magnetic poles (not the geographic poles) and roughly correspond with the Arctic and Antarctic circles. There are times, though, when the lights are farther south, usually when there are a lot of sunspots. Sunspot activity follows an 11-year cycle.
As the electrons enter the earth's upper atmosphere, they will encounter atoms of oxygen and nitrogen at altitudes from 20 to 200 miles above the earth's surface. The color of the aurora depends on which atom is struck, and the altitude of the meeting.
Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude All of the magnetic and electrical forces react with one another in constantly shifting combinations. These shifts and flows can be seen as the auroras "dance," moving along with the atmospheric currents that can reach 20,000,000 amperes at 50,000 volts. (In contrast, the circuit breakers in your home will disengage when current flow exceeds 15-30 amperes at 120 volts.)
The auroras generally occur along the "auroral ovals," which center on the magnetic poles (not the geographic poles) and roughly correspond with the Arctic and Antarctic circles. There are times, though, when the lights are farther south, usually when there are a lot of sunspots. Sunspot activity follows an 11-year cycle.
posted by Elven King at
6:44 PM
1 Comments
Marwick came today at 11:45 to pick me for our date at MV. We went to old town for lunch first, but it was inconvenient cause of the lack of parking space, so we went to eat in State Newtown instead, in front of my old tuition centre, PMB(Pusat Bimbingan Nirmala) at Restaurant OK. The pic to the right shows you our very famous State Newtown.
Aah what fun times we had when we were still school goin children and lived by the simple rules of the horribilus school we attended. Nothing more to worry about than the current grade and the school popularity squad that irritated us every now and then. Now that we are grown up, we have to think about more important matters... What we are going to study, how we are going to pay for it, and our futures etc. It never occured to how how old I am by the standards of age that I set which I, at the time, thought is what defines the old and young. Our batch of school goin' lads and lasses are currently 20 years old. And to those which are in the same batch as me, I am here to remind you of it. @_@. Since we are 20 already, all we have to do now to complete our life is to find a partner to reproduce with, or for the queers, be happy with, live a gruelling adult's work life, and see our children off to university(to those that have children) and die. How time seems to fly, as my friend Marwick told me this morning during brunch. The pic to the left shows the portal to the nesting ground of the Nirmala. You better be always ready so as to not be caught off-guard when the Nirmalalings attack. You have been warned.
