绚丽奇景：神秘北极光光临美国

Freak solar activity creates incredible Northern Lights which are seen as far south as Arkansas.

反常的太阳活动使得美国远至阿肯色州的人们看到惊人的北极光壮观景象。 It's one of the world's most famous and spectacular solar phenomena, but those hoping to experience the Northern Lights usually have to travel to remotest Norway to witness their beauty.

北极光是世界上最著名也是最绚烂的太阳活动现象之一，想要亲眼见证北极光的美丽，人们通常需要去到最遥远的挪威。

But freak solar activity yesterday saw the stunning auroral display stretch much further than usual, as it was spotted by stunned stargazers across half of northern America.

但是昨天反常的太阳活动造福了北美人民：超级绚丽的北极光此次的延伸范围广得多，使得半个美国的天文爱好者大饱眼福，亲眼见证了北极光。

The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are created by the Sun's atmosphere, which blasts particles into the protective magnetic field surrounding the Earth.

北极光来自太阳大气层，是太阳的激烈活动爆发出粒子进入了地球的保护磁场而出现的自然现象。

Electrically-charged particles are thrown towards the Earth and carried on the solar wind towards the upper part of our planet's atmosphere.

这些带电粒子通过太阳风高速进入地球的高层大气中。

When the particles are swept towards the poles and react with ions in the atmosphere, the result creates Mother Nature's amazing light show as vivid swathes of bright colour shoot across the night sky.

当这些粒子被太阳风扫射向南北极并与大气层中的离子发生反应时，生动明亮光线会划过夜空，就像是自然精彩的灯光表演。

The most recent mass ejection of particles occurred when most of the U.S. was getting dark on a particularly clear night, leading to the spectacular light show witnesses in Washington D.C., Arkansas and Virginia.

最近一次的大规模粒子喷射现象发生时，美国大部分地区夜幕正在降临，夜空特别晴朗清澈，这使得华盛顿、阿肯色州和弗吉尼亚州的居民都能幸运地亲眼见证此次北极光视觉盛宴。

Amateur photographer Brian Emfinger was one of the stargazers who captured the rare occurrence after being alerted to the aurora show on SpaceWeather.com.

业余摄影师Brian Emfinger是这些幸运儿当中的一个。 在SpaceWeather.com网站上看到极光光临的通知后，他用相机捕捉到了这一次罕见的极光表演。

He said: “I ran out and put my camera out and immediately saw reddish aurora. I ran out into the field, and within a few minutes the aurora went crazy!”

他说道：“我跑出去，刚把相机拿出来就马上看到了红色的极光。我跑到空地上，几分钟内极光就疯狂地充满了整个天空。”

Others who witnessed the spectacle in America described seeing “the blood-red Northern Lights aflame in the night sky”.

其他目睹了这一壮观景象的人们表示看到“血红色的北极光燃烧了整片夜空。”