From the course: Landscape Photography: Iceland
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Photographing the auroras
From the course: Landscape Photography: Iceland
Photographing the auroras
- Auroras are caused by electrically charged particles from the sun interacting with the Earth's atmosphere. When these charged solar particles strike atoms in our atmosphere, they cause electrons in the atoms to move to a higher energy state. When these electrons are turned back to a lower energy state, they release a photon, which we see as light. This is the process that creates the beautiful Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights. The electrical particles that bring the auroras are caused by a coronal mass ejection, also known as a CME, a massive burst of gas and a magnetic field from the solar corona that is released into the solar wind. After a CME it takes anywhere from one to five days for the particles to reach the Earth. Keeping an eye on the solar activity and CMEs is a good way to know if there might be favorable aurora activity coming up. So whenever I'm traveling in Iceland, I pay close attention to the website for the Iceland meteorological office. Because in addition…
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