“Mom, Grandpa sent a picture. The sky is GREEN. Is that even allowed?”
Her mom looks over at the photo. “Oh, that’s the aurora! Grandpa must be visiting somewhere really far north.”
“But WHY is it green? Sky’s supposed to be blue. Or black at night.”
“Okay, so, you know how a lightbulb glows when electricity runs through it?”
“Yeah.”
“Something kind of similar happens way up in our atmosphere. Tiny charged particles come flying in from the sun, and when they hit certain gases way up high, those gases light up. Oxygen glows green, mostly. Sometimes red. Nitrogen can glow purple or blue.”
“Gases GLOWING? Like a lightbulb in the sky?”
“Kind of exactly like that, actually.”
“Why do they come flying from the sun?”
“The sun’s constantly throwing off little bits of itself, in every direction, all the time. Most of it misses us completely. But some of it heads our way, and Earth’s magnetic field sort of funnels it toward the north and south, way up high.”
“So that’s why Grandpa has to go somewhere far to see it?”
“Exactly. Closer to the top of the world, or the bottom. Places like Iceland, or way up in Canada, or Norway.”
She stares at the photo a little longer. “It looks like the sky is dancing.”
“Yeah. That’s actually a pretty common thing people say about it.”
“I want to see it dance someday.”
“Me too, honestly. Maybe we’ll ask Grandpa for tips.”
Now It’s Your Turn
Find someone over breakfast and see what you both remember.
- What actually makes the aurora glow?
- Why is it usually green?
- Why can you only see it in certain places on Earth?
(Whenever you’re ready: 1. Particles from the sun hitting gases in our atmosphere. 2. Oxygen tends to glow green when hit. 3. Earth’s magnetic field funnels particles toward the far north and south.)
Maybe today, find a photo of somewhere you’d love to visit someday, and talk about why.
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