We Could See the Northern Lights!

This post was ready in time, I just forgot to click publish, sorry!

On the 28th February, many Brits could see the Northern Lights in Scotland and surprisingly England and Wales too! I could go all cultural on you about their history and whatever, but that's Tess' job and it's a science post this week. Did you know, the Northern Lights' Latin name, Aurora Borealis, is as it is because Aurora was the goddess of dawn (ie. red skies), and borealis meant northerly?

"The sight filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely conceivable."

 - Phillip Pullman, The Northern Lights

What are the Northern Lights? (Scientific BBC article here)

From what I can understand, the Sun creates a solar wind which heads towards Earth. The electrically charged particles in the solar wind cause gas atoms to glow in the sky, and that's why we get the beautiful array of colours. Simples. *meerkat squeak*

My favourite photo on a BBC article page taken by Brian Doyle in Aberdeenshire

Why could you see them in England though?

The sun had a "major geomagnetic event" (also in the article), basically a strong storm, and so when the particles came towards Earth they had more force behind them. This meant that they were therefore able to break through Earth's atmosphere a lot more easily and reach places further south than normal.

I tried really hard to find a joke about the Northern Lights but I'm afraid they're all pretty naff or you have to pay to use the cartoons. I can't think of a cool way to end this now. Pizza.