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| Image generated by AI using Bing Image Creator |
Usually
green and pink, but sometimes blue. The display is effectively like a
giant fluorescent tube (which is a type of discharge lighting, along
with sodium and mercury vapour lamps, used for street lighting.) Just
like the way a neon lamp gives out pink light as electrons collide with
neon molecules in the lamp (an electric current is simply a flow of
electrons), high energy charged particles from the Sun hit the
atmosphere, causing various gases to fluoresce and emit light of
different colours. Green is produced by oxygen in the atmosphere and red
and pink are produced by oxygen at higher altitudes when the electrons
in oxygen atoms are excited to higher levels. More info here:
https://www.space.com/aurora-colors-explained