THE AURORA

By, Fg Offr K.S.SUDHARSHANAN 16 INDRA (0)

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION CHARACTERISTICS THE PHENOMENON HISTORICAL OVERVIEW SPACE PROGRAMS TYPES AURORA AS ATOMIC PHYSICS EFFECTS OF AURORA IN OTHER PLANETS CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION
AN AURORA - A NATURAL LIGHT DISPLAY IN THE HIGH LATITUDE REGIONS. SEEN NEAR THE MAGNETIC POLES. ILLUMINATE THE HORIZON AS GREENISH GLOW OR A FAINT RED- SUN RISE FROM AN UNUSUAL DIRECTION.

CHARACTERISTICS Appear in a narrow belt around both the northern and southern magnetic poles.
o

oHas a variety of shapes, colors, and structures oContinuously changing in time.

PLACES OF OCCURANCE Most aurora occur in a band known as the auroral zone Typically 3 to 6 in latitudinal extent. The auroral zone is 10 to 20 from the magnetic pole. During a heavy solar storm , the auroral zone will expand to lower latitudes.

Aurora australis (11 September 2005) as captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite,

AURORA BOREALIS
In northern latitudes - AURORA BOREALIS (or the northern lights) AURORA -Roman goddess of dawn, BOREAS -the Greek name for the north wind. Viewed at Canada, arctic circle, Scandinavian islands, Alaska.

AURORA AUSTRALIS
Southern counterpart, the AURORA AUSTRALIS (or the southern lights), Identical features to the aurora borealis Changes simultaneously with changes in northern auroral zone Visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America and Australia.

THE PHENOMENON
Display starts with a phosphorescent glow over the horizon and arch is lit. Arch drifts up over in the sky as new arches are lit and follow the first one. Small waves and curls move along the arches. Rays of light shoot down from space which spread all over the sky.

THE PHENOMENON
After 10 to 20 minutes the activity decreases, bands spread out, disintegrating in a diffuse light all over the sky. Take a look

Magnificent overhead aurora.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The Inuit people in Northeast Canada believed : "The sky is a huge dome of hard material arched over the flat earth and outside of it there is light. In the dome there are a large number of small holes and through these holes you can see the light from the outside when it is dark." The Eskimos believed aurora was the dance of animal spirits (deer, seals and salmon). Aristotle and Hesiod , ancient Greek poet(8th century B.C.) mentioned aurora in their writings

IN THE MIDDLE AGES

In central Europe the Northern Lights were considered a bad omen. Warned of illness, plague and death. When red, they signaled the outbreak of war.

IN MORE RECENT TIMES

1619 - Galileo

christened the Northern Lights as : Aurora Borealis- Northern Dawn. The existence of Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) was still unknown in Europe.

colored woodcut showing an aurora at Nuremberg on October 5, 1591.

IN MORE RECENT TIMES

The Aurora Australis was first sighted by Europeans in the end of the 18th century, during the expeditions of Captain James Cook around Australia.

During November 2003 storm, red aurora reached as far south as Athens, Greece.

THEORIES

1716- Edmund Halley considered particles that move along the field lines of the earths magnetic field as the origin. 1733- French scientist de Mairan proposed interaction of light material with the terrestrial atmosphere. - also connection with sunspots.

THEORIES

1895 - Scientist Kristian Birkeland conducted TERELLA experiment. Discovered energetic electrons ejected from sunspots, then directed to the Earth. They are guided to the Earth's polar regions by the magnetic field, produce the visible aurora.

THEORIES

1957-1958- International geophysical year,

Yasha Feldstein proposed the concept of the AURORAL OVAL. The locus of usual appearance of auroras . Each oval is up to 3,500 km in diameter and a few hundred km thick.

AURORAL OVALS

THE SPACE AGE

Advancement in science and technology allowed

scientists to observe and record aurora from third dimension

Imaging the aurora from above by satellites permitted

simultaneous observations of large areas of aurora and spectacular views.

View of aurora from International space station

SPACE PROGRAMS
Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), USA 1962 Canadian ISIS-2 spacecraft in 1972. Dynamics Explorer (NASA)- 1981 STS-39 - 1991 Hubble space telescope

SPACE PROGRAMS
International Space Station (ISS)- 1997 IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration), NASA - 2000 THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macro scale Interactions during Sub storms),NASA mission - February 17, 2007

TYPES
Aurora is classified as DIFFUSE AURORA - a featureless glow in the sky which may not be visible to the naked eye . defines the extent of the auroral zone. DISCRETE AURORA - sharply defined features. vary in brightness from just barely visible to the naked eye to bright enough to read a newspaper at night

THE AURORA AS ATOMIC PHYSICS

Physicists say - the aurora is a large-scale electrical discharge phenomenon in the high-altitude atmosphere. Results from quantum leaps in oxygen and nitrogen atoms. Energetic electrons streaming along geomagnetic field lines hit and excite atoms and molecules.

THE AURORA AS ATOMIC PHYSICS

Above a hundred kilometers, oxygen and nitrogen atoms are energized by energetic particles. The auroral light results from the de-excitation of these particles. The color, shape, and intensity depend on the energy of the electrons. Oxygen emissions -Green or brownish-red. Nitrogen emissions - Blue or red.

EFFECTS OF AURORA
THE LARGE SCALE ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE HAS SEVERE EFFECTS ON: AIRCRAFT MOVEMENT SATELLITE COMMUNICATION POWER LINES GPS

AURORA IN OTHER PLANETS Jupiter and Saturn - magnetic fields much stronger than Earth Jupiter's field strength - 4.3 gauss, 0.3 gauss for Earth. Uranus and Neptune have also been observed to have auroras.

CONCLUSION
Auroras are natural phenomenon of magnificent display of light , visible only at polar regions. Many natural phenomenon goes unnoticed, we should make time to know about our earth.