The Aurora Borealis: A Heavenly Phenomena of Northern Lights
The aurora borealis is one of the most compelling heavenly phenomena because of its stunning aesthetic display and because of its relatively unpredictable appearance in the northern hemispheric skies. Also known as the Northern Lights, the aurora borealis also has a lesser-known southern hemispheric counterpart known as the aurora australis. The Northern Lights has garnered far more attention, possibly because of the greater concentration of human population in the northern polar circle and the lack of human inhabitants on Antarctica. The indigenous peoples of Northern Eurasia and Northern North America offered a litany of folkloric legends about the origin and phenomena of the Northern Lights. The aurora borealis has been largely divested of its mythical significance now that the phenomenon is well-understood by astronomers, geologists, and meteorologists. Nevertheless, the Northern Lights are stunning enough to evoke wonder at even the most jaded scientist. Pettersen (1994) waxes poetic about the Northern Lights: "The Northern lights are poetry, they are nature's light show, and they are quantum leaps in the oxygen atom."Mythology and science seem to commingle in the presence of the aurora borealis. As Brady (1999) notes, "The
The relative weakness of aurora borealis light emissions means that viewing the phenomenon during even moderately light skies is almost impossible. The name aurora borealis is compiled of Roman and Greek mythological terms: Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn and Boreas the Greek god of the northern wind. The closer to equinox midnight time remains the most suitable time for viewing. The appearance of the Northern Lights depends largely on the strength of the solar winds, and on the thermonuclear reactions taking place in the sun. Solar maximum is not a highly specific time. " In more bellicose terminology, the aurora borealis results from solar wind crashing into the earth's atmosphere. Ancient human cultures posited many mythic origins of the aurora borealis but theirs were no less fascinating than the scientific explanation of the Northern Lights. In other words, solar winds are constantly bombarding the earth at its geomagnetic poles. Although the aurora borealis cannot be predicted with mathematical precision its appearance can be estimated like the weather can be: by relying on models and known evidence. Traveling at 300 to 1,000 kilometers per second, around one million miles per hour, solar wind takes an estimated 2-5 days to reach the earth (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration; Pettersen, 1994). People who live in the Finnish Laplands might be able to view the aurora borealis several times a year, whereas people living in Detroit may only see the aurora borealis once in their lifetime, if ever. 7 nanometers is the most common manifestation of the collision between solar energy and earthbound oxygen particles (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, 2002). At the same time, the Northern Lights also depend on earthly atmospheric conditions and on the position of the earth at the time the solar winds flare. The degree of relative darkness in the nighttime skies also affects the visibility of the aurora borealis: even if a spectacular display occurs in June, it might not be visible in the perpetually bright nighttime skies in Scandinavia.
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