Since I was born and brought up in a rural town, I have a great interest in nature. Using the chance of study abroad in my second year at college, I decided to go to Canada just because I wanted to see the beautiful phenomena there. So after I finished the study abroad program, I went to Yellowknife in the North West Territories.
I clearly remember the sixth night in the Yellowknife. Suddenly my host mother came to my room around 8 p. m. and told me to change clothes and go outside quickly carrying her camera.
The"northern lights"were flickering in the sky!I was stunned and just stood there with my mouth open. I forgot to take pictures of the mysterious lights.
I was so excited that I couldn't sleep at all that night. Since that night, whenever it was sunny, I went outside at night and looked at the sky. It was so cold that I lost all feelings in my hands and feet. Actually, the time of my being able to be out was limited. I had to bring her camera back to house in one hour at the most, for the camera was going to be broken because of the cold temperature.
As I took the pictures of the northern lights, I came to find a characteristic movement of the lights. They first appear in the north part of the sky and then they gradually come down to the south part of the sky. After that, suddenly, they come in the middle of the north and south only for a while, which is the time when the best northern lights can be seen. Since it is only a few seconds for the northern lights to come down to the middle of the sky, it is very hard to get good pictures.
The stronger the sun acts, the better and strong northern lights flicker in the sky. That's because they occur from the collision between atmospheric gases and solar wind. Much more solar wind comes to the earth when the sun is active, which lead to the best northern lights. And the colours of the northern lights depend on the height of the collisions and kinds of gases.
