自然奇觀:北美驚現絢麗北極光

Freak solar activity creates incredible Northern Lights which are seen as far south as Arkansas.
反常的太陽活動使得美國遠至阿肯色州的人們看到驚人的北極光壯觀景象。

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.
北極光是世界上最著名也是最絢爛的太陽活動現象之一，想要親眼見證北極光的美麗，人們通常需要去到最遙遠的挪威。

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.
但是昨天反常的太陽活動造福了北美人民：超級絢麗的北極光此次的延伸範圍廣得多，使得半個美國的天文愛好者大飽眼福，親眼見證了北極光。

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.
北極光來自太陽大氣層，是太陽的激烈活動爆發出粒子進入了地球的保護磁場而出現的自然現象。

Electrically-charged particles are thrown towards the Earth and carried on the solar wind towards the upper part of our planet's atmosphere.
這些帶電粒子通過太陽風高速進入地球的高層大氣中。

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.
當這些粒子被太陽風掃射向南北極並與大氣層中的離子發生反應時，生動明亮光線會劃過夜空，就像是自然精彩的燈光表演。

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.
最近一次的大規模粒子噴射現象發生時，美國大部分地區夜幕正在降臨，夜空特別晴朗清澈，這使得華盛頓、阿肯色州和弗吉尼亞州的居民都能幸運地親眼見證此次北極光視覺盛宴。

Amateur photographer Brian Emfinger was one of the stargazers who captured the rare occurrence after being alerted to the aurora show on .
業餘攝影師Brian Emfinger是這些幸運兒當中的一個。在網站上看到極光光臨的通知後，他用相機捕捉到了這一次罕見的極光表演。

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!"
他說道：“我跑出去，剛把相機拿出來就馬上看到了紅色的極光。我跑到空地上，幾分鐘內極光就瘋狂地充滿了整個天空。”

Others who witnessed the spectacle in America described seeing "the blood-red Northern Lights aflame in the night sky".
其他目睹了這一壯觀景象的人們表示看到“血紅色的北極光燃燒了整片夜空。”