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Earth magnetic field funnels charged particles toward polar atmosphere gases. The figure is taken from NOAA, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Auroras are powered by energetic solar wind colliding with upper air

Earth magnetic field funnels charged particles toward polar atmosphere gases

Auroras occur when energetic charged particles carried by the solar wind collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in Earth's upper atmosphere. Guided along geomagnetic field lines towards polar regions, these collisions excite gas molecules, releasing shimmering curtains of green, pink and purple light.

Auroras over North America (8074263697) — NASA's Earth Observatory · CC BY 2.0 · licence · source

Where this comes from

NOAA

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Tags: aurora, solar wind, atmosphere

Auroras are powered by energetic solar wind colliding with upper air: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Earth magnetic field funnels charged particles toward polar atmosphere gases. The figure is taken from NOAA, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a space fact?: Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.