KUSA - Mother Nature is putting on quite a show over the Arctic as a strong, bright aurora borealis continues to light up the northern latitudes.
The aurora borealis is an aftereffect of a massive solar eruption that spewed radiation towards Earth where it bounced off our atmosphere.
The pictures are ethereal. But what's it like, to see it in person? One aurora borealis watcher in Norway compared it to a painting that moves across the sky.
Unfortunately for those of us in Colorado, if you want to see this light show in person, the best places to watch are considered to be northern Norway, Greenland, Iceland, and Finland. Tourism keyed to the light show is doing a very brisk business in these countries.
NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station are snapping all the photos and video they can of the aurora borealis as they orbit the earth.
The venture is part of an effort called AuroraMAX with the goal of sharing with people the beauty of the northern lights and the science that causes aurora borealis to form. The aurora results when charged particles from the sun collide with the atmosphere, resulting in the glow as the particles are funneled over the poles of the earth along magnetic lines. In the southern hemisphere, aurora borealis is called the Southern Lights.
For more information please visit:
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax/connect.asp
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)