What Are Auroras And Why Do They Come In Different Shapes The color of the light corresponds to the release of discrete chunks of energy by the atmospheric particles, and is also an indicator of how much energy was absorbed in the initial collision. the. As these videos show, aurora comes in all sorts of colours. the most common are the greens and reds, which are both emitted by oxygen in the upper atmosphere. green auroras correspond to altitudes.
What Are Auroras And Why Do They Come In Different Shapes Auroras come in a wide variety of colors — from green to pink to blue and purple — that can leave skywatchers both mesmerized and mystified. but there's method to this auroral madness. Red [300 400 km (> 180 miles)]: red light at the top of an aurora comes from monatomic oxygen (o). at lower latitudes, sometimes only the red aurora appears, facing the north (northern hemisphere) or south (southern hemisphere). the other colors are below the horizon line. yellow green [100 300 km (60 180 mi)]: vivid lime green is the most. Why do auroras come in different colors and shapes? the color of the aurora depends on which gas — oxygen or nitrogen — is being excited by the electrons, and on how excited it becomes. the color also depends upon how fast the electrons are moving, or how much energy they have at the time of their collisions. high energy electrons. The auroral lights' colors are determined by the spectra of gases in the earth's atmosphere, and the height at which the most collisions take place. incoming particles tend to collide with different gases at different heights. very high in the ionosphere (above 300 km or 180 miles), oxygen is the most common atom, and collisions there can.
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