Aurora
An Aurora is a natural light display in the sky it
comes from the Latin word “Aurora’’ which means “sunrise’’ or else it is the
Roman goddess of dawn. It is mainly seen in the high latitude, mostly in Arctic
and Antarctic regions. Auroras are caused by the charge of the particles,
mainly electrons and protons, while entering the atmosphere from above. That
results in ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents, and
consequent optical emissions. After having gained an electron from the
atmosphere, incident protons can also produce emissions as hydrogen atoms.
Most Auroras occur in a specific region known as the Auroral
zone, which is typically 3° to 6° wide in latitude and between 10° and 20° from
the geomagnetic poles at all local times. It is also important to add that Auroras
are most clearly seen at night against a dark sky. A region that currently
displays an Aurora is called the Auroral~oval which is a band displaced towards
the nightside of the Earth.
In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the Aurora
Borealis (or else known as the northern lights), which is named after the Roman
goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by
Galileo in 1619. Auroras seen within the Auroral oval may be directly above the
level of the head, but from farther away they illuminate the pole ward horizon
as a greenish glow, or even sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising
from a peculiar direction.
Its southern
counterpart, the Aurora Australis (or else known as the southern lights), has characteristics
that are almost identical to the Aurora Borealis and changes at the same time
with changes in the northern Auroral zone. It is mostly visible from high southern
latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. The most
amazing fact is that Auroras can also occur on other planets! These are of
course similar to the Earth's Aurora, and in addition they are also visible
close to the planets’ magnetic poles.
Researchers have also discovered that Auroral activity
is cyclic, meaning that peaking occurs approximately every 11 years. The last
peak period was 2013. The next peak period is 2024! That is why you better book
your tickets now!
Winter in the north is in general a good season to
view the lights. Due to the fact that the long periods of darkness and the
frequency of clear nights provide many excellent opportunities to observe, the Auroral
displays. Usually the best time of night (only on clear nights) to watch for Auroral
displays is local midnight.
Legends of the Lights
'Aurora borealis', the lights of the northern
hemisphere, means 'dawn of the north'. 'Aurora Australis' means 'dawn of the
south'. In Roman myths, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn as it was mentioned
earlier. Many cultural groups have legends about the peculiar lights’ displays.
To begin with, in the medieval times, the occurrences of Auroral displays were
seen as bad omens of war or starvation. Furthermore, the Maori of New Zealand expressed
a belief with many northern people of Europe and North America that the lights
were actually reflections from torches or campfires.
In addition, the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin
believed that the lights indicated the location of manabai'wok (translated as giants)
who were the spirits of great hunters and fishermen who perished. What is more
the Inuit of Alaska believed that the lights were the spirits of the animals
they hunted such as the seals, salmon, deer and beluga whales. Finally other
aboriginal peoples believed that the lights were the spirits of their people.
In Finnish, the name for the Aurora Borealis is
"Revontulet", which literally is translated as "Fox Fires."
This name comes from an ancient Finnish myth that explains that the lights were
caused by a magical fox sweeping her tail across the snow spraying it up into
the sky. The Lapps, who were a close relative 'race' to the Finns, traditionally
believed that the lights were the energies of the souls of the departed. When
the fires blazed in the skies, people were expected to behave solemnly, and
children were told to quiet down and be respectful of the fires. It was
believed that whoever disrespected the fires would bear bad fortune, which
could result in sickness and even in death.
In Norwegian folklore, the lights were believed to be
the spirits of old maids dancing in the sky and waving. Likewise in Scotland, the
lights are sometimes called "the merry dancers. Also Eskimos in Eastern
Greenland refer to the northern lights as the spirits of children who died at
birth whose dancing caused the dancing lights. The Salteaus who were Indians of
eastern Canada and the Kwakiutl and Tlingit of Southeastern Alaska also attributed
the lights to be human spirits, whereas an Eskimo tribe living on the lower
Yukon River believed the dancers to be the spirits of animals. There is also
this quite interesting version of the Young Labrador Eskimos, who were convinced
that the northern lights were torches lit by the dead who were playing soccer
in the heavens with a walrus skull, in turn, would dance to the aurora.
Moreover, in the Americas, the Fox Indians of
Wisconsin also believed the lights to be an ill omen due to the fact that the
lights were thought as the ghosts of slayed enemies waiting to take revenge for
their death. Well, apart from the versions in which Aurora was thought as an
ill omen there were others certainly more loving. Such as this which is perhaps
considered to be the loveliest of the beliefs. It comes from the Algonquin
Indians. They believed that Nanahbozho the Creator, after having finished the
creation of the earth, he travelled to the far north, where he is still
building great fires which reflect southward, in order to remind those he
created of his lasting love.
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