CONCEPT PAPER

AURORA BOREALIS:
HOLY GRAIL OF
SKYWATCHING

SUBMITTED BY:
ALEXA M. TAACA
 One of many people’s bucket list is to witness the majestic beauty of the aurora borealis or the
northern lights. But have you ever asked yourself how these lights were formed? Are they natural or
man-made phenomena? This paper aims to answer these questions and other queries about these
magical lights.

The northern lights are an atmospheric phenomenon that's regarded as the Holy Grail of
skywatching. The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are the beautiful dancing waves of light that
have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather
violent event. 

Energized particles from the sun slam into Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45

million mph (72 million km/h), but our planet's magnetic field protects us from the onslaught. As
Earth's magnetic field redirects the particles toward the North Pole, the dramatic process transforms
into a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and fascinates scientists and skywatchers
alike.
Now let’s have a quick history of this phenomena, although it was Italian astronomer Galileo
Galilei coined the name "aurora borealis" in 1619  after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the
Greek god of the north wind, Boreas,  the earliest suspected record of the northern lights is in a
30,000-year-old cave painting in France. Since that time, civilizations around the world have
marveled at the celestial phenomenon, ascribing all sorts of origin myths to the dancing lights. One
North American Inuit legend suggests that the northern lights are spirits playing ball with a walrus
head, while the Vikings thought the phenomenon was light reflecting off the armor of the Valkyrie, the
supernatural maidens who brought warriors into the afterlife. Early astronomers also mentioned the
northern lights in their records. A royal astronomer under Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed
his report of the phenomenon on a tablet dated to 567 B.C., while a Chinese report from 193 B.C.
also notes the aurora, according to NASA. The science behind the northern lights wasn't theorized
until the turn of the 20th century. Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland proposed that electrons
emitted from sunspots produced the atmospheric lights after striking the Earth's magnetic field. The
theory would eventually prove correct, but not until long after Birkeland's death.

A vibrant, green aurora lights up Earth's upper atmosphere in this photo captured by an astronaut at the International Space Station. When this photo was taken on
Jan. 22, the station was orbiting 261 miles (420 kilometers) above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North America. Beneath the northern lights is a blanket of marmalade-
colored airglow, a type of luminescence caused by ultraviolet light that triggers chemical reactions high in Earth's atmosphere. Auroras, on the other hand, are created when
charged particles from the sun ionize or excite particles in the atmosphere. (Image credit: NASA)
 WHAT ARE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS?
At any given moment, the sun is ejecting charged particles from its corona, or
upper atmosphere, creating what's called the solar wind. When that wind slams into
Earth's ionosphere, or upper atmosphere, the aurora is born. In the Northern Hemisphere, the
phenomenon is called the northern lights (aurora borealis), while in the Southern Hemisphere, it's
called the southern lights (aurora australis)."These particles are deflected towards the poles of Earth
by our planet's magnetic field and interact with our atmosphere, depositing energy and causing the
atmosphere to fluoresce," said Billy Teets, an astronomer and the director of Dyer Observatory at
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. 
The bright colors of the northern lights are dictated by the chemical composition of Earth's
atmosphere. "Every type of atom or molecule, whether it's atomic hydrogen or a molecule like carbon
dioxide, absorbs and radiates its own unique set of colors, which is analogous to how every human
being has a unique set of fingerprints," Teets told Space.com. "Some of the dominant colors seen in
aurorae are red, a hue produced by the nitrogen molecules, and green, which is produced by oxygen
molecules." 
While solar wind is constant, the sun's emissions go through a roughly 11-year cycle of activity.
Sometimes there's a lull, but other times, there are vast storms that bombard Earth with extreme
amounts of energy. This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent. The last
solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in 2014, according to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), placing the next one in approximately 2025.
Despite plenty of advances in heliophysics and atmospheric science, much about the northern
lights remains a mystery. For example, researchers weren't entirely sure how the energized particles
in the solar wind accelerated to their extraordinary speeds (45 million mph) until June 2021, when a
study published in the journal Nature Communications confirmed that a phenomenon called Alfvén
waves gave the particles a boost. Alfvén waves are low-frequency yet powerful undulations that occur
in plasma due to electromagnetic forces; the electrons that create the northern lights "surf" along
these waves in the Earth's atmosphere, accelerating rapidly. 
NASA is also on the hunt for clues about how the northern lights work. In 2018, the space
agency launched the Parker Solar Probe, which is currently orbiting the sun and will eventually get
close enough to "touch" the corona. While there, the spacecraft will collect information that could
reveal more about the northern lights.

The auroras are best seen during the winter when nights are long.
 WHERE AND WHEN TO SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS?
Seeing the northern lights with your own eyes is a bucket-list item for astronomy lovers and
travelers alike. Fortunately, they occur frequently. "The northern lights are happening 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, 365 days a year," said photographer Chad Blakely, owner of northern lights tour
company Lights Over Lapland. But that doesn't mean they're easy to spot; you need to be at the right
place at the right time.
The best place to see the northern lights is any destination in the "auroral zone," the area
within an approximately 1,550-mile (2,500 kilometers) radius of the North Pole, according to
the Tromsø Geophysical Observatory. That's where the aurora most frequently occurs, though the
phenomenon can creep farther south during particularly strong solar storms. Within the zone, it's best
to be as far away from city lights as possible to maximize visibility. But it's pretty tricky to get into the
middle of the Arctic wilderness, even with a guide, so it's best to base yourself in a destination with
solid infrastructure, like Fairbanks, Alaska; Yellowknife, Canada; Svalbard, Norway; Abisko National
Park, in Sweden; Rovaniemi, Finland; and pretty much anywhere in Iceland.
The aurora borealis is one of the world’s natural phenomena and a God’s way of telling us that
He can make something beautiful even in the middle of darkness.