Northern Lights

Film info

Film summary

Discover how the chemical reactions which produce the extraordinary colours of the Northern Lights have their origins in outer space.

Key facts

• Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, is a natural light show that occurs at the poles.
• Magnetic activity on the Sun's surface propels super-fast charged electrons and ions into space - this is known as solar wind.
• The solar ions collide with atoms in the Earth's atmosphere and emit photons of light.
• The colour of the light emitted is dependent the type of atom the ions have collided with - a blue or red glow means that a nitrogen atom has been struck.