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	Frequently Asked Questions Send to a friend  Printable version  En Español Keywords Aurorae (Northern Lights)  Magnetism and Magnetic Fields  Sun  Earth  Weather and Atmospheric Phenomena  Resources FAQs about Earth, Moon, and the Sun Astronomy Gift Shop 2009 Sky Almanac McDonald Observatory logo cap What causes the Northern and Southern Lights?  The aurora australis -- the southern lights -- glow above the National Science Foundation's permanent research station at the South Pole. The famous Northern and Southern Lights -- Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis for those Latin lovers among us -- are caused by high-energy particles from the Sun cascading down on Earth. As they near our planet, they interact with Earth's magnetic field, which channels them toward the north and south magnetic poles. There they are accelerated downward, and at altitudes ranging from 90 to 700 km (50 to 450 miles), the particles collide with atoms of our upper atmosphere, a process that results in a glowing field of excited gas. These sheets of lights can take on many beautiful colors, and often persist for hours on end, dancing gracefully in the polar skies. Earth isn't the only planet that experiences aurorae; recent images from the Galileo probe, in orbit around Jupiter, clearly show massive auroral displays many times the size of Earth taking place high in the Jovian atmosphere. As we study our fellow planets in ever-increasing detail, it is all but certain that more such spectacular and eerily beautiful scenes will be discovered. Other FAQs Select FAQ category Earth, Moon, and the Sun The Solar System Space Probes and Human Exploration Stars and Nebulae Astronomers and Observatories Galaxies and Cosmology Stargazing and Star Lore » FAQs about StarDate Online Earth, Moon, and the Sun Links NASA Eclipse Home Page Exploring the Moon Earth Observatory Earth Science Picture of the Day Solar Dynamics Observatory Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Home Page SpaceWatch Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) Common Holidays in Relation to Equinoxes, Solstices & Cross-Quarter Days Earth and Moon Viewer Fireball Data Center Meteorite Central NASA Solar Data Analysis Center (SOHO) North American Meteor Network The Aurora Page Virtual Reality Moon Phase Pictures
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