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Here you go Charlie, from Dr. Laura Peticolas, an aurora expert (and my boss!).
Dan
Green is the glowing of atomic oxygen high in the atmosphere (from about 60 miles above Earth's surface - 100km - on up.) These oxygen atoms were bombarded by high energy electrons and the atoms were excited to a plethra of electronic states. When these atoms de-excite, they glow in all types of colors - some colors in the ultraviolet and infrared. But the brightest color is green. It takes atomic oxygen 10 seconds to de-excite and emit this green color. So it is a very special thing. If these excited atoms were bombarded by other atmospheric atoms or molecules, they would loose their energy and never get a chance to glow. The electrons bombarding the oxygen atoms come both from the space near Earth, known as the magnetosphere, and from electrons in the atmosphere that were stripped from other atoms and molecules from the high energy magnetospheric electrons. The motion in the aurora comes from these magnetospheric electrons beaming down in different areas, being 'lead' by electric and magnetic fields in space.
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Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:53:22 -0700
From: Charles Carlson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Aurora from space (new video)
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
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Hey Dan
Interesting! Is the green from oxygen fluorescence?
Thanks,
C
On Sep 22, 2011, at 6:29 PM, Dan Zevin wrote:
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> This is one awesome video!
>
> http://spaceweather.com/swpod2011/22sep11/media.mp4
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