Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis
Have you ever wondered how the lights that illuminate the night sky with dazzling colors in places like Alaska, Canada, or countries from the extreme polar regions are formed? Even though the sun is at a distance of 93 million miles from Earth, its effects are very powerful. The sun discharges charged particles in space during solar storms, and if Earth happens to come in contact with one such stream of charged particles, its magnetic field reacts at the point of contact. When the sun's charged particles enter Earth's atmosphere, it causes the atoms in the atmosphere to get "excited," which causes them to light up. The colors are formed due to the different types of gases in Earth's atmosphere that come in contact with the charged particles. Oxygen atoms emit green colors, while nitrogen atoms may react and emit blue or red colors. This results in a display of light that usually appears as flowing curtains in the night sky, but they sometimes also form arcs and spirals. The lights that occur near the North Pole are called aurora borealis, or northern lights, while the lights that occur near the South Pole are called aurora australis, or southern lights. 2 Select the correct answer. What is the purpose of the passage? A. to persuade readers to watch auroras near polar regions B. to inform readers about auroras near polar regions C. to entertain readers with a legend about auroras D. to instruct readers on how to watch auroras