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Imagine water waves glowing when they come ashore… well that’s what can happen because of bioluminescence.
Bioluminescence is the light that some living creatures, such as plankton in the sea, emit from their bodies. Some small creatures emit a light to scare off predators.
If this happens in the right conditions the water can start glowing – watch the clip above to see when it happened in Anglesey in north Wales in June 2021.
Other plants and creatures can give off light too from their body.
Here are some other cool light shows that happen in nature…
Northern lights & Southern lights
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More commonly known as the Northern Lights, the aurora borealis is a brilliant natural light show that occurs in the night sky. Certain places in the north of Europe like Finland are known for these amazing displays and lots of people travel to see it.
Solved: The mystery of why the aurora borealis happens
The Southern Lights, or aurora austrialis, is a similar event, but it happens in places in the world nearer to the South Pole instead. Watch the clip above to see the natural light show in action.
Rainbows
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Rainbows occur everywhere, but have you ever seen lightning and a rainbow at the same time? Take a look at it above.
Rainbows occur when raindrops in the sky interact with sunlight. The different colours are due to the different angles the light hits the water droplets.
You can also get fogbows – when sunlight interacts with water droplets contained in fog, mist or clouds – and moonbows (sometimes known as a lunar rainbow) – when the light from the moon interacts with water droplets in the air.
Solar & lunar eclipses
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These are rare and people get really excited when they occur, travelling far just to experience them.
A solar eclipse is when the moon appears directly in front of the sun and blocks out its light for a short while. It’s dangerous to look directly at the sun when it happens but luckily special cameras are able to capture it for us to watch on TV – take a look at the clip above.
A lunar eclipse is when the moon appears darkened as it passes into the earth’s shadow.