Northern Lights- Awe

🌈 The Northern Lights made a rare appearance across the UK last night due to one of the strongest geomagnetic storms to hit earth for years.

😳 Wow - never thought I’d see them literally on my back door step.

😃Sometimes you just need to step outside and marvel at your surroundings.

🤩 Being in Awe is actually a very powerful positive emotion - it makes you feel better.

Northern Lights - Berkhamsted UK

It’s the weekend so here are 7 interesting facts about the Aurora Borealis.

1️⃣ They are named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, and the ancient god of the north wind, Boreas

2️⃣ The patterns and shapes of auroras are determined by the changing flow of charged particles and the varying magnetic fields.

3️⃣ Many North American communities like the Cree Indians believe that the Aurora were the souls of departed ancestors.

4️⃣ A Norwegian scientist, Kristian Birkeland (1867–1917), was the first to explain the aurora phenomenon based on the sun earth connection.

5️⃣ Archaeologists believe that some cave drawings depict auroras in the sky from as early as 2600 B.C. in China. 

6️⃣ The most common aurora colours are red and green depending on whether electrons collide with oxygen or nitrogen, and how energetically.

7️⃣ Earth isn’t the only planet with auroras. They also occur on other planets in our solar system like Jupiter. 

Enjoy your weekend