Not many people these days have seen the Aurora around here. Some folks have even told me that they did not think it even "happened"../../../ anymore. It is partly because fewer people even take the time to look at the nght sky, but also because our night skies are polluted by street lights, obscuring the wonders of the cosmos. Certainly, farther north, the lights are much more common, but they do happen sometimes in our area.
The northern lights are actually called the Aurora Borealis, and there is a southern counterpart, the Aurora Australis. They are a wonderous, poetic light show from nature and if you have seen them, you will never forget the experience. The Aurora play a strong part in the folklore of cultures, having been said to represent everything from fires to battles raging in the sky.
The Greeks called the Aurora "Blood Rain." To Eskimos, they were Sky Dwellers. In Germany, the Aurora was Heaven's Light. One of the most interesting stories explaining the Aurora is from the Inuit around Hudson Bay.
The sky is a huge dome over the flat Earth. On the outside there is light. In the dome there are a large number of small holes, and trough these holes you can see the light from the outside when it is dark. And trough these holes the spirits of the dead can pass into the heavenly regions. The way to heaven leads over a narrow bridge which spans an enormous abyss. The spirits that were already in heaven light torches to guide the feet of the new arrivals. These torches are called the northern lights
In Middle-Age Europe, the northern lights were thought to be reflections of heavenly warriors. As a kind of posthumous reward, the soldiers who gave their lives for their king and country were allowed to battle on the skies forever. The northern lights were the breath of these brave soldiers as they resumed their fight inthe skies.
Several centuries before Christ, Aristoteles tried to take a more logical approach to explaining the Aurora. He described the phenomena as flames of burning gas. Another old explanation of the lights was that after the Sun had gone down, some rays of light reached up to the skies over Greenland and these were the Aurora.
Even today there are many different theories about the northern lights. Some say that if you wave to them, they will increase in activity or even reach down and catch you. Or that if you look at them you will damage your eyes. It is also said that there are noises connected with the Aurora, most often a crackling sound.
If you have never seen the Aurora before, they are displays of light, varying in shades of blue, green and red. They appear in the northern sky and the lights take on shapes of curtains, rays, streamers and arcs. They may last minutes or hours, changing often. But what causes them?
Aurora are directly associated with solar activity, specifically the solar wind. Aurora are produced when charged particles in the solar wind enter the Earth's atmosphere. These particles, a form of plasma, get trapped for a time in the Earth's magnetic field in an area called the Van Allen Belts. Eventually the plasma is drawn to the north and south magnetic poles. During the trip, the particles become ionizes the surrounding oxygen and nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, causing it to glow which we see as Aurora.
An impressive Aurora display can occur when the Sun is more active with solar flares, prominences and Sunspots. It is when the Sun is more active that lower northern latitudes might see an Aurora display.
How can you know when it's a good time to watch for Aurora? Check out the website: http://www.spaceweather.com and you can either monitor the site for solar activity or join their mailing list which will then notify you when you might expect a display. The best times to look are around midnight and afterwards.
Copyright © 2001 Kathy A. Miles and Charles F. Peters II