Churchill, Manitoba, is one of the best places in the world to watch the Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis. On clear nights, visitors are often greeted with a beautiful midnight light-show, all thanks to Mother Nature.
Three things are needed for us to see the Northern Lights: clear skies, gases, and solar wind. Without clear skies we simply can’t see the event happen, and all sorts of gases are needed to cause the Aurora to change color. Solar wind comes from the sun and throws out high energy particles into our solar system.
Auroras occurs only in high latitudes (far north or far south) because of the magnetic fields near the poles. The magnetic north is the strong force that pulls your compass needle, but there is also a magnetic field around the south pole. The solar wind particles needed for an Aurora event are pulled into the earth’s atmosphere by these magnetic fields. High energy solar wind particles collide with the gases in the atmosphere, and this energy is transferred into light. When billions of these collisions happen at the same time, together they produce the Northern Lights.
Watch our video to see how amazing these lights can be, and hopefully one day you can see them in person!
