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Paint the Aurora with Ice Cubes

Two bright bands of green aurora stretch across the dark night sky from the horizon at the lower right toward the foreground in the upper left, appearing almost like long curtains hanging in the sky. The left band has a series of bright vertical rays along it, like spotlights shining upward. An additional green glow appears just above the horizon in the distance. In the lower right, trees appear silhouetted against the auroras.
Green auroral arcs extend across the sky in this photo captured in northwestern Canada in 2019. The right arc is a typical auroral arc, while the brighter arc on the left is transforming into another type of aurora with bead-like features.
Levels
  • Introductory (K-5)
Material Type
  • Activity/Hands-on
  • Lesson Plan
Heliophysics Big Ideas
  • Big Idea 1.2 – The Sun is active…
NGSS
  • ESS1 - Earth's Place in the Universe
  • PS1 - Matter and its Interactions
  • PS3 - Energy
Heliophysics Topics
  • Atmosphere
  • Aurora
  • Magnetic Field
  • Solar Wind
Heliophysics Missions
  • Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)
Material Cost per Learner Free
Language English

Activity | Grades K-5 | This hands-on activity uses food coloring and ice to help elementary learners model space weather and northern lights concepts. Teachers can integrate this into chemistry or Earth science lessons by guiding students to observe how melting colored ice simulates moving gases in the atmosphere, connecting the behavior to solar wind and magnetic fields.

Credit: UAF

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