{"id":57828,"date":"2024-04-25T08:04:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T08:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bdca8d7a-b052-477d-87c6-fddabe1aca14"},"modified":"2024-04-25T08:08:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T08:08:22","slug":"a-brief-history-of-aurora-science","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/a-brief-history-of-aurora-science\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of aurora science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Sutherland tracks the study of the phenomenon known as the aurora. <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 25 April 2024 at 08:04 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The Aurora Borealis \u2013 literally \u2018northern dawn\u2019 \u2013 was given its name by Galileo, who mistakenly thought it was caused by sunlight reflected from the atmosphere.<\/p>

A similar light show in the southern hemisphere is now known as the Aurora Australis. But the phenomenon has been witnessed throughout history.<\/p>

Stone Age cave paintings in Europe dating back 30,000 years are believed to depict early displays, while the Greek philosopher Aristotle compared it to fires on Earth in 344BC.<\/p>

Aurora australis appears over the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Credit: Patrick Cullis; Source: U.S. Antarctic Program photo Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>
**A traveller’s guide to aurora hunting<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>**
**How do you take photographs of the aurora?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>**
What do aurorae look like on other planets?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li><\/ul>
These atmospheric displays are usually seen in high regions of latitude, north and south, around the poles. But more powerful displays penetrate further and rare, major shows<\/p>
can be seen from southern Europe or the USA. In 34AD, Roman troops marched on the city of Ostia in Italy because a bright aurora convinced Tiberius Caesar that the town was in flames.<\/p>
In the 18th century, the leading American thinker Benjamin Franklin suggested that aurorae were created by electrical charges concentrated around the poles and intensified by snow and moisture.<\/p>
Then, in September 1859, brilliant red, green and purple auroral displays encircled the Earth, visible even in the tropics.<\/p>
It happened just a day after a British astronomer, Richard Carrington, had observed two blinding beads of white light appear briefly above a sunspot, an explosion that was the earliest recorded solar flare.<\/p>
The two events set astronomers on track to link events on the Sun with the heavenly fireworks.<\/p>
$\"Aurora$
Aurora over Earth, as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The aurora<\/a> is now known to occur when the solar wind, a stream of charged particles \u2013 protons and electrons \u2013 flowing from the Sun, collides with the Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere.<\/p>
Our planet is surrounded by a vast magnetic bubble \u2013 a natural shield called the magnetosphere that protects us against deadly radiation from space and the solar wind.<\/p>
This magnetic field<\/a> is thought to be generated by a dynamo process in our planet\u2019s liquid core.<\/p>
Field lines in the magnetosphere channel some of this stream from the Sun towards the Earth\u2019s magnetic poles.<\/p>
$\"The$
Credit: Naeblys \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The solar particles collide with atoms and molecules in the ionosphere, causing these molecules to release energy, which they do by glowing brightly.<\/p>
Aurorae can take various forms, from a gentle glow near the horizon to arcs, rippling bands and streaks of light. <\/p>
Brighter and more dramatic shows can resemble constantly shifting curtains or even a corona, where rays radiating from overhead appear to fill the sky.<\/p>
The most common colour for an aurora is green, but other displays can be red or purple, depending on which atoms of gas the charged solar particles have struck.<\/p>
Though these colours appear striking in photographs, this is due to the time exposures used; the brightness and colour usually appears more subtle to the eye.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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