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From: crummer%AEROSPACE@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: northern lights
Message-ID: <547@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-May-84 11:18:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.547
Posted: Wed May  9 11:18:46 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 13-May-84 07:26:46 EDT
Lines: 12

From:            Charlie Crummer <crummer@AEROSPACE>

I don't know the details of the reactions in the upper atmosphere that cause
the Northern Lights but I do know that photons carry no charge.  The charged
particles are protons and maybe some heavier ions that are ejected by solar
storms.  These particles enter our atmosphere and interact with molecules
and atoms causing them to enter excited energy states.  When they undergo
transitions to more stable configurations they emit the auroral light.  The
interaction is an electromagnetic one that occurs through the charge the 
particles have.

  --Charlie