eli5 Why are the Northern Lights only Green, Pink and Blue?
In: Planetary Science
They are the color you see for a reason:
Green = high concentrations of Oxygen 100-300km above the Earth’s surface
Red = a different Oxygen band that’s 300-400km above the surface
Blue/Purple = Nitrogen much closer to the surface, less than 100km
Yellow/Pink conditions where you have red + green or blue; it’s a color mixture like your monitor
Because not all things are capable of becoming all colors.
The northern lights are basically a chemical reaction; certain compounds react creating certain colors.
The compounds being flung through space just happen to react in greens/pinks/blues
Here ya go, just a few items down my feed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/b5IY4iY79j
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