Science Grab Bag
Space Science
What causes the Aurora Borealis, which appear quite frequently in the Athabasca region?
Answer: Solar wind. The sun extrudes clouds of plasma containing high energy ions traveling upwards of 1200 kilometers per seconds. If this plasma cloud passes near Earths magnetic field, some of these high energy particles may become trapped and are channeled through the ionosphere (60-600Km's above earths surface) where they can collide with gasses and produce their characteristic glow of red, green, blue and violet.
Science Outreach Athabasca - September 26, 2012
