Nature’s Fireworks
Mother Earth never fails to surprise us with its wonders and its beauty. No matter where you go, you’ll find a part of nature’s grace.
Today, let’s talk about nature’s Lightworks.
AURORAs:
The auroras are the bright light patterns that are observed in the high altitude regions( i.e. Arctic and Antarctica). The Lights in the Arctic are called Aurora Borealis and those in Antarctica as Aurora Australis. Since they are near the poles, hence the name Polar Lights.
Aurora was the Roman Goddess of Dawn who traveled from East to West announcing the arrival of the sun.
These lights have been wrapped in a lot of mythos and superstitions since ancient times. Aurora Lights were seen as “Falling Red Flames” by some. While Australian aboriginals termed them as “Bushfires in the Spirit Realm”. Some even termed them as ancestors who remained as ghost spirits who were trying to contact the living.
These lights are a recurring show at the high altitude regions whose real beauty comes out at night against the dark sky.
However, as science progressed and our understanding of Nature expanded, we can now explain the reason for their occurrence.
How do they Form?
The atmosphere contains different layers as we move up. One such layer is called the Magnetosphere. The magnetosphere has charged particles mainly electrons and protons. The solar winds due to the Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun reach the Earth and create disturbances in this layer. Generally, the disturbances are significant enough to change the trajectories of these charged particles present in both Solar Wind as well as the Magnetosphere. These charged particles then precipitate in the Thermosphere and the Exosphere. This results in ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents which create lights of varying colors.
The major colors that are observed in an aurora are Red, Green, and Blue. There are ultraviolet, infrared auroras as well on different planets and other celestial bodies.
Red auroras occur at the highest altitude where the atomic oxygen emits wavelength in the red spectrum. At lower altitudes, frequent collisions suppress the red color and Green auroras occur predominantly. At even lower altitudes, the atomic oxygen is negligible, so ionized Nitrogen molecules take the charge of producing visible Blue auroras.
The most notable occurrence of aurora borealis was the CARRINGTON EVENT as a result of a “great geomagnetic storm” which took place on 28 August and 2 September 1859. It was reported by The New York Times that in Boston on Friday 2 September 1859 the aurora was “so brilliant that at about one o’clock ordinary print could be read by the light”
Parting Thoughts:
Aurora forms only a fraction of events that show the beauty of the Universe. It is only now that we have started to unfurl the science behind such grand events which were earlier seen as the craftsmanship of the sprits and the Gods. Let us see what all mysteries shall us humans who have now aimed for the stars may debunk and explain as the science progresses.
