US National Weather Service in Riverton & Wyomingites Share Photos of Aurora Borealis
Though nothing seemed to appear in Casper (believe us- we spent 3 hours looking), the National Weather Service in Riverton as well as a resident of Cody, Wyoming have shared a few photos of Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights.
According to the Northern Lights Centre (Europeans spell things weirdly), "the bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south."
The Centre wrote that Aurora displays many different colors, but pale green and pink are the most common.
"The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere," the Centre wrote. "Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora."
Words and descriptions are good, but we want pictures! Luckily, the Weather Service in Riverton provided a couple.
Surprisingly, they did not get the best photos of the night so far. That distinction belongs to Bliss Bonner of Cody, Wyoming who shared these beautiful photos that she took with her cellphone!
"Not bad for a 15-year-old and an iPhone," Bliss' mother Yancy quipped.
If you happened to grab any photos yourself, feel free to share them in our comments sections or via the K2 Radio Mobile App.