Aurora Borealis - Dance of the Spirits

Could our planet be under attack from the unearthly forces that cast a mysterious glow across the poles, disrupting life as we know it?

The strange, beautiful coloured lights that circle the Earth's polar regions are a source of fascination for many. 

But as the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, dance in the frozen skies over Alaska, scientists' trigger fingers are poised to launch rockets. 

This magnificent phenomenon, Aurora Borealis is named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas. It is also known as "Dance of the Spirits" by the Cree  and was believed a sign from the heaven's during the Middle Ages in Europe.

 

 The lights at their most frequent in late autumn and winter/early spring could be spotted between the autumn equinox and spring equinox (21 September - 21 March), as it is dark between 6 pm and 1 am. However, the weather is also of importance, and September, October and November tend to be wet and snowless in the north

  Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. 

Discrete aurora often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green. The phenomenon most often occurs near the equinoxes.  

 

Researchers at the world's largest land-based rocket range hope to learn more about these storms and their impact on lives in the northern hemisphere. 

The luminous sheets of light might look spectacular, but they are also visual indicators of geomagnetic storms in space that can interfere with satellites, power grids, navigation and communication systems. They can even corrode oil pipelines.

It is this disruption that the researchers are trying to help mitigate.