Hey,Can You See Northern Lights? Well I'm Going To Try!

Can You See Northern Lights? Well, I've decided Finland is my best bet to see the Northern Lights. Besides I want to meet the real Santa Claus and Rudolf!

I know. I live right in Canada, and not too far from Alaska. Can you see Northern Lights from here? My research tells me it's iffy -- hit and miss. Besides the aurora borealis is moving from above Canada to Siberia! Let me explain.

What are northern lights made of? What actually causes northern lights, or the aurora borealis (Latin for "northern dawn"), are solar winds basically hitting the Earth's magnetic field . The result looks like bands, clouds and rays of green, red and blue lights in the night sky and occur in an oval around the north magnetic pole.

When looking into northern lights facts I found that in 1989 auroras showed up as far south as Key West, Florida and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico! Can you see northern lights from Mexico? Not usually. So people were calling the police thinking it was an alien invasion! Really! Within 90 seconds of the aurora's reaching the skies above Quebec, Canada, magnetic storms caused a province-wide blackout, leaving six million Canadians without power for hours! Compasses were gyrating all over the place and there were reports of automatic garage doors opening and closing on their own. Radio transmissions and coastal nagivation systems were disrupted, and info. feeds from satellites were temporarily lost.

Can you see northern lights? Some people have reported even hearing them! People in northern Europe and North America have long told of hissing or crackling sounds that occasionally accompany the show, but when they've tried to record the sounds, it doesn't work! Eery! I just picture hearing major static cling! NASA actually blasted off their THEMIS mission on February 17, 2007 with the purpose of discovering the exact origin of the aurora borealis! They have five space crafts flying into different positions between the Earth and the Sun, which they should all reach by September. They will help measure the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. Some of the energy created by this interaction is what causes the magnetic field lines to stretch and snap like rubber bands -- we see the snaps as beautiful auroras. It will be a two-year mission and on the ground stations in Canada and Alaska will photograph the multi-colored phenomena. "The northern lights provide visible evidence of the Earth's magnetosphere protecting us from the fatal effects of the solar wind," said Frank Snow, NASA THEMIS mission manager. Aurora australis is the name of the southern lights at the south pole, displays are...

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