Q 01/05

What causes an aurora?

A) Solar particles hitting atoms in the upper atmosphere

B) Moonlight scattered by ice crystals

C) Sunlight reflecting off polar ice

D) Lightning high in the stratosphere

Answer · why

A) Solar particles hitting atoms in the upper atmosphere

The collisions excite oxygen and nitrogen, which then emit green, red and purple light.

Q 02/05

What is the aurora in the Antarctic called?

A) The northern lights

B) The polar crown

C) The antarctic glow

D) The southern lights

Answer · why

D) The southern lights

Its features are almost identical to the northern lights and it changes in step with them.

Q 03/05

The word 'aurora' comes from the Roman goddess of what?

A) The Moon

B) The north wind

C) The dawn

D) Fire

Answer · why

C) The dawn

Borealis and australis come from Boreas and Auster, the Greco-Roman gods of the north and south winds.

Q 04/05

Who used the term 'aurora borealis' in 1619, before Gassendi's 1649 description made it stick?

A) René Descartes

B) Tycho Brahe

C) Galileo Galilei

D) Johannes Kepler

Answer · why

C) Galileo Galilei

The term entered the English language in 1828.

Q 05/05

Which colour of aurora is the most common?

A) Red

B) Blue

C) Green

D) Purple

Answer · why

C) Green

It is emitted at 557.7 nm at altitudes where collisions are frequent and human eyes are most sensitive.