Aurora Chalk Art
On March 17, 2015, Earth experienced a geomagnetic storm with an aurora that was visible in the Northern U.S. states. Two holes in the solar corona streaming out fast solar wind may have caused the aurora in this image taken from Donnelly Creek, Alaska.
Create your own artwork inspired by the northern lights!
The Sun emits a constant stream of particles, called the solar wind. Some of these particles get caught in Earth’s magnetic field and move toward the poles. When the particles enter the atmosphere, they crash into gases. This excites the gases, and they give off light like a neon sign. We call the resulting light show the auroras.