University Professor throws light on space

Tuesday, 09 March 2010

Professor Mike Lockwood in Norway

How the northern lights are created is explained by a University of Reading astrophysicist for the recent BBC2 programme on the solar system.

Professor Mike Lockwood, of the Department of Meteorology, accompanied Professor Brian Cox, who presents Wonders of the Solar System, to Norway to witness the famous Aurora Borealis.

Professor Lockwood explains that the eerie lights are caused during large explosions and flares, when huge quantities of particles are thrown out of the sun and into deep space. These clouds travel through space with speeds varying from 300 to 1,000 kilometres per second. When the particles collide with the gases in the earth's atmosphere they glow, producing a fantastic array of colour.

"The magnetic shield around the earth protects the Earth from the highly-charged solar winds, but when the right conditions occur we can still see the natural phenomenon of the northern lights in space," said Professor Lockwood.