The phenomenon. The Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, appear in a clear night sky as swirling rivers of greenish-blue light. They move and dance unpredictably; sometimes barely perceptible, then suddenly growing vivid.

Do Northern Lights move in real time?

Northern Lights Solar Particles Move Millions of Miles Per Hour. Today we know the Northern Lights are created by solar flares that shoot through space out of the sun. … At this speed, the solar flares take anywhere from one to five days to reach Earth, depending on the speed of the solar wind.

Do auroras move fast?

Usually, the movement of an aurora is so slow it takes time-lapse video to reveal it, but clearly the Earth’s magnetic field was feeling feisty that night. … But sometimes the oncoming wave has its poles flipped, so the particles can then stream into and along the Earth’s magnetic field.