The Why’s, How’s & Legends of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights
There’s nothing more beautiful than witnessing the dancing lights in the skies, on a visit to the most northern parts of our planet – the magical Aurora Borealis.
But how does it work? Why do we have such strange happenings in the sky each winter? And what are the legends and myths surrounding them?
We will endeavour to answer those questions and more here today.
HOW
The Aurora Borealis is a natural light phenomena visible in areas of high latitude around the Arctic region.
The cause of auroras, both in the South (Aurora Australis) and North (Aurora Borealis), directly results from solar activity. Storms on the surface of the Sun release streams of charged particles from the corona, this is known as a solar wind. Our planet has a magnetic field known as the magnetosphere; this field influences any charged particles which come nearby.
These charged particles then interact with various atoms and molecules that exist within our atmosphere, heating them and causing them to glow. The wave-like or ribbon-like structures appear because of the nature of Earth’s magnetic fields.
The colour of an aurora is dependent on with which gases the solar wind is primarily interacting.
Oxygen and nitrogen form the majority of our atmosphere.
Oxygen is responsible for shades of green, or extremely rarely red, while blue or purple shades are caused by nitrogen.
Both the Aurora Australis and the Aurora Borealis will occur simultaneously, but they are difficult to see in daylight.
LEGENDS
In ancient times, before the auroras could be so neatly explained through science, people understood them through a mystical lens. Norse mythology holds beliefs of Valhalla, a place where Odin and his Valkyries would bring warriors who died in battle. When the Valkyries’ would ride to the surface of the Earth, some believed the auroras were reflections of their shining armour as they led warriors to Valhalla. Others believed it was actually the breath of the warriors who died in battle, or it was the Bifrost, a rainbow bridge between the realms of Asgard and Earth.
Native American tribes have various beliefs regarding the lights, but a connecting thread is often some relation to death. Some believe the auroras to be lights from torches as spirits led the souls of the dead to their afterlife, or that the lights were a way to communicate with the dead or their ancestors. Inuits of northern Greenland believe the lights were spirits of the dead playing celestial games involving the skull of a walrus.
The best place to see these lights is to be as far north as you can, but depending on the severity of the solar storm it can be possible to see them further away from these areas. For the Aurora Borealis, try this website which displays the likelihood of an aurora occurring: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast.
Or visit countries like Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Arctic Canada etc during the winter or autumn months. For cruises where you are more likely to see these lights see the links below.