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Aurora borealis happens when charged particles from the Sun collide with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating glowing colours—most often green—near the magnetic poles. These lights appear because Earth’s magnetic field funnels solar particles toward the Arctic, which is why places like northern Canada often see spectacular displays.
What Causes the Aurora Borealis
• Solar wind: The Sun constantly releases charged particles (electrons and ions). During solar storms, even more particles stream toward Earth.
• Earth’s magnetic field: Most particles are deflected, but some are guided toward the north and south magnetic poles, where they enter the atmosphere.
Atmospheric collisions:
• When these particles hit oxygen, you see green (most common) or red.
• When they hit nitrogen, you get purple, blue, or pink.
• Altitude effects:
• Around 80–500 km above Earth, atoms get “excited” and release photons—light—when they calm down again.
Why the Lights Move and Ripple
• The aurora’s famous curtains, arcs, and waves follow the shape of Earth’s magnetic field lines.
• Sudden bursts of brightness, called substorms, happen when energy stored in Earth’s magnetosphere is released all at once.
Why We See Them in the North
• The magnetic field directs solar particles toward the poles, so the aurora is strongest in high‑latitude regions like northern Canada, Alaska, Norway, and Finland.
• In the south, the same phenomenon is called aurora australis.
The best place to view aurora is in the north of the province. I've done a lot of Alaska cruises but they've never been in view when we've been at sea. We continue to see them in the lower mainland of BC. The best place is on a mountain or in a park out of the city lights. I generally go to the beach and look north. The pictures have been amazing!
