What causes colour difference in auroras?

When the electrons drop back to a lower energy state, they release a photon: light. This process creates the beautiful aurora, or northern lights. The reason that the aurora is seen in so many colors is that our atmosphere is made up of many different compounds like Oxygen and Nitrogen. read more

This picture from Alaska illustrates three bands of color in an aurora. The otherworldly colors of the Northern Lights and Southern Lights have fueled folklore for millennia, but their cause is actually quite straightforward. read more

The Aurora Borealis is most often seen in a striking green color, but it also occasionally shows off its many colors ranging from red to pink, blue to purple, dark to light. The reason that the aurora is seen in so many colors is that our atmosphere is made up of many different compounds like Oxygen and Nitrogen. read more