{"id":11146,"date":"2024-05-24T17:35:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T17:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11146"},"modified":"2024-05-24T17:35:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T17:35:48","slug":"why-are-we-seeing-these-crazy-northern-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11146","title":{"rendered":"Why Are We Seeing These Crazy Northern Lights?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The aurora borealis is usually visible only way up north, but two weeks ago the night sky was filled with shimmering curtains of pink and green light that could be seen all the way down into the southern US. People in Texas and Hawaii got out of their cars to stare and take pictures.<\/p>\n

The cause of this light show was an especially strong blast of solar wind<\/a>\u2014electrically charged particles shot out from the sun at incredible speeds. And there’s more to come as we approach the peak of the current solar cycle, a period of increased solar storms that happens every 11 years.<\/p>\n

This is one example of what scientists call \u201cspace weather<\/a>,\u201d which deals with the interaction between the sun and the Earth. Not all the consequences of space weather are pretty, and some are outright dangerous. But the physics behind it are pretty cool. Let’s check it out!<\/p>\n

Blowin\u2019 in the Wind<\/h2>\n

You might think of the sun as a great ball of fire\u2014but it’s not. (Fire is a chemical reaction between oxygen and carbon.) What the sun is, really, is a giant nuclear fusion reactor. In the core, protons are smashed together under extreme pressure. These protons stick together to create the nucleus of a helium atom, with two protons and two neutrons. (Two of the protons decay into neutrons).<\/p>\n

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