Aurora (astronomy)

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Aurora borealis
Aurora borealis
For other uses of the term, see Aurora (disambiguation).

The aurora is a bright glow observed in the night sky, usually in the polar zones. For this reason, some scientists call it a "polar aurora" or "aurora polaris". In northern latitudes, it is known as aurora borealis, which combines the name Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, with the word Boreas, the Greek name for north wind. The southern counterpart is called aurora australis.

The aurora borealis is also called the northern lights, because it is visible only in the north sky from the Northern Hemisphere. It most often occurs from September to October and from March to April.

Aurora australis (September 11, 2005) as captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite, digitally overlaid onto the "Blue Marble" composite image.

Auroral forms and magnetism

A corona.

Typically, an aurora appears as either a diffuse glow or "curtains" that extend approximately in the east-west direction. At times, one may observe "quiet arcs"; at others ("active aurora"), one sees the patterns changing continually. Each curtain consists of many parallel rays, each lined up with the local direction of the magnetic field lines, suggesting that the aurora is shaped by the Earth's magnetic field. Indeed, satellites show auroral electrons to be guided by magnetic field lines, spiraling around them while moving earthward.

The curtains often show folds called "striations". When the field line guiding a bright auroral patch leads to a point directly above the observer, the aurora may appear as a "corona" of diverging rays—an effect of perspective.

In 1741, Olof Hiorter (1696-1750) and Anders Celsius (1701-1744) first noticed other evidence of large magnetic fluctuations that occurred whenever the aurora was observed overhead. It was later realized that large electric currents were associated with the aurora, flowing in the region where auroral light originated. Kristian Birkeland (1867-1917)[1] deduced that the currents flowed in the east-west directions along the auroral arc, and such currents were later named "auroral electrojets."

Still more evidence for a magnetic connection are the statistics of auroral observations. Elias Loomis (1811-1889) and later in more detail Hermann Fritz (1810-1882)[2] established that the aurora appeared mainly in the "auroral zone", a ring-shaped region with a radius of approximately 2500 kilometers (km) around the magnetic pole of the Earth, not its geographic pole. It was hardly ever seen near that pole itself. The instantaneous distribution of auroras is slightly different, centered about 3-5 degrees nightward of the magnetic pole, so that auroral arcs reach farthest toward the equator around midnight.[3]

Aurora australis.

Frequency of occurrence

Aurora australis 1994 from latitude 47 degrees south

The aurora is a common occurrence in the ring-shaped zone. It is occasionally seen in temperate latitudes, when a strong magnetic storm temporarily expands the auroral oval (the distribution of auroras). Large magnetic storms are most common during the peak of the eleven-year sunspot cycle or during the three years after that peak. However, within the auroral zone the likelihood of an aurora occurring depends mostly on the slant of IMF lines being greater with southward slants.

Geomagnetic storms that ignite auroras actually happen more often during the months around the equinoxes. It is not well understood why geomagnetic storms are tied to the earth's seasons when polar activity is not. It is known, however, that during spring and autumn, the Earth's and the interplanetary magnetic field link up. At the magnetopause, Earth's magnetic field points north. When the IMF tilts south, it can partially cancel Earth's magnetic field at the point of contact. South-pointing IMF lines open a door through which energy from the solar wind can reach Earth's inner magnetosphere.

The peaking of IMF lines during this time is a result of geometry. The IMF comes from the Sun and is carried outward by the solar wind. Because the Sun rotates, the IMF has a Parker spiral shape. Earth's magnetic dipole axis is most closely aligned with that spiral in April and October. As a result, southward (and northward) excursions of the IMF lines are greatest then.

The IMF line slant, however, is not the only influence on geomagnetic activity. The Sun's rotation axis is tilted 7 degrees with respect to the plane of Earth's orbit. Because the solar wind blows more rapidly from the Sun's poles than from its equator, the average speed of particles buffeting Earth's magnetosphere waxes and wanes every six months. The solar wind speed is greatest (by about 50 km/s, on average) around September 5 and March 5, when Earth lies at its highest heliographic latitude.

Still, neither the IMF lines nor the solar wind can fully explain the seasonal behavior of geomagnetic storms. Those factors together contribute only about one-third of the observed semiannual variation.

Auroral events of historical significance

The auroral events that occurred as a result of the "great geomagnetic storm" on both August 28 and September 2, 1859, are thought to be perhaps the most spectacular ever witnessed in recent recorded history. The latter event, which occurred as a result of the exceptionally intense Carrington-Hodgson white light solar flare on September 1, produced auroras so widespread and extraordinarily brilliant that they were seen and reported in published scientific measurements, ship's logs, and newspapers throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia. It was said in the New York Times that "ordinary print could be read by the light [of the aurora]". The aurora is thought to have been produced by one of the most intense coronal mass ejections in history, very near the maximum intensity that the sun is thought to be capable of producing.

It is also noteworthy because it was the first time that the phenomena of auroral activity and electricity were unambiguously linked. This insight was made possible not only due to scientific magnetometer measurements of the era but also as a result of a significant portion of the 125,000 miles of telegraph lines then in service being significantly disrupted for many hours throughout the storm. Some telegraph lines, however, seem to have been of appropriate length and orientation to allow a current to be induced in them (due to Earth's severely fluctuating magnetosphere) and actually used for communication.

The following conversation was had between two operators of the American Telegraph Line between Boston and Portland on the night of September 2, 1859, reported in the Boston Traveler:

Boston operator (to Portland operator): "Please cut off your battery [power source] entirely for fifteen minutes."
Portland operator: "Will do so. It is now disconnected."
Boston: "Mine is disconnected, and we are working with the auroral current. How do you receive my writing?"
Portland: "Better than with our batteries on. - Current comes and goes gradually."
Boston: "My current is very strong at times, and we can work better without the batteries, as the aurora seems to neutralize and augment our batteries alternately, making current too strong at times for our relay magnets. Suppose we work without batteries while we are affected by this trouble."
Portland: "Very well. Shall I go ahead with business?"
Boston: "Yes. Go ahead."

The conversation was carried on for around two hours using no battery power at all and working solely with the current induced by the aurora. It was thought to have been the first time on record that more than a word or two were transmitted in such manner.[4]

The solar wind and magnetosphere

Schematic of Earth's magnetosphere

The earth is constantly immersed in the solar wind, a rarefied flow of hot plasma (gas of free electrons and positive ions) emitted by the sun in all directions, a result of the million-degree heat of the sun's outermost layer, the solar corona. The solar wind usually reaches Earth with a velocity around 400 km/s, density around 5 ions/cc and magnetic field intensity around 2–5 nT (nanoteslas; the earth's surface field is typically 30,000–50,000 nT). These are typical values. During magnetic storms, in particular, flows can be several times faster; the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) may also be much stronger.

The IMF originates on the sun, related to the field of sunspots, and its field lines (lines of force) are dragged out by the solar wind. That alone would tend to line them up in the sun-earth direction, but the rotation of the sun skews them (at Earth) by about 45 degrees, so that field lines passing Earth may actually start near the western edge of the visible sun (a numerical simulation of the solar wind illustrates the skew: Solar wind forecast).

The earth's magnetosphere is the space region dominated by its magnetic field. It forms an obstacle in the path of the solar wind, causing it to be diverted around it, at a distance of about 70,000 km (before it reaches that boundary, typically 12,000–15,000 km upstream, a bow shock forms). The width of the magnetospheric obstacle, abreast of Earth, is typically 190,000 km, and on the night side a long "magnetotail" of stretched field lines extends to great distances.

When the solar wind is perturbed, it easily transfers energy and material into the magnetosphere. The electrons and ions in the magnetosphere that are thus energized move along the magnetic field lines to the polar regions of the atmosphere and cause the aurora.

Auroral Mechanism

The ultimate energy source of the aurora is the solar wind flowing past the Earth.

Both the magnetosphere and the solar wind consist of plasma (ionized gas), which can conduct electricity. It is well known, since Michael Faraday's (1791-1867) work around 1830, that if two electric conductors are immersed in a magnetic field and one moves relative to the other, while a closed electric circuit exists which threads both conductors, then an electric current will arise in that circuit. Electric generators or dynamos make use of this process ("the dynamo effect"), but the conductors can also be plasmas or other fluids.

In particular, the solar wind and the magnetosphere are two electrically conductive fluids with such relative motion and should be able to generate electric currents by "dynamo action", in the process also extracting energy from the flow of the solar wind. The process is hampered by the fact that plasmas conduct easily along magnetic field lines, but not so easily perpendicular to them. It is therefore important that a temporary magnetic interconnection be established between the field lines of the solar wind and those of the magnetosphere, by a process known as magnetic reconnection. It happens most easily with a southward slant of IMF lines, because then field lines north of Earth approximately match the direction of field lines near the north pole (namely, into the earth), and similarly near the southern pole. Indeed, active auroras (and related "substorms") are much more likely at such times.

Electric currents originating in such fashion apparently give auroral electrons their energy. The magnetospheric plasma has an abundance of electrons: some are magnetically trapped, some reside in the magnetotail, and some exist in the upward extension of the ionosphere, which may extend (with diminishing density) some 25,000 km around the earth. However, a dynamo mechanism is thought to provide a driving voltage for these currents on the order of 40,000 volts and up to 200,000 during magnetic storms.

This voltage accelerates electrons to auroral energies and seems to be a major source of aurora. Other mechanisms have also been proposed, in particular, Alfvén waves, wave modes involving the magnetic field first noted by Hannes Alfvén (1908-1995), which have been observed in the lab and in space. The question is however whether this might just be a different way of looking at the above process, because this approach does not point out a different energy source, and many plasma bulk phenomena can also be described in terms of Alfvén waves.

Auroras can also be understood as being caused by the collision of charged particles (e.g. electrons), found in the magnetosphere, with atoms in the Earth's upper atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km). These charged particles are typically energized to levels between 1 thousand and 15 thousand electronvolts and, as they collide with atoms of gases in the atmosphere, the atoms become energized. Shortly afterwards, the atoms emit their gained energy as light (see Fluorescence). Light emitted by the Aurora tends to be dominated by emissions from atomic oxygen, resulting in a greenish glow (at a wavelength of 557.7 nm) and - especially at lower energy levels and at higher altitudes - the dark-red glow (at 630.0 nm of wavelength). Both of these represent forbidden transitions of electrons of atomic oxygen that, in absence of newer collisions, persist for a long time and account for the slow brightening and fading (0.5-1 s) of auroral rays. Many other colors—especially those emitted by atomic and molecular nitrogen (blue and purple, respectively)[5]—can also be observed. These, however, vary much faster and reveal the true dynamic nature of auroras.

As well as visible light, auroras emit infrared (NIR and IR) and ultraviolet (UV) rays as well as X-rays (e.g. as observed by the Polar spacecraft). While the visible light emissions of auroras can easily be seen on Earth, the UV and X-ray emissions are best seen from space, as the Earth's atmosphere tends to absorb and attenuate these emissions.

The Aurora Borealis as viewed from the International Space Station Expedition 6 team.

In addition, the aurora and associated currents produce a strong radio emission around 150 kHz, known as "auroral kilometric radiation" (AKR, discovered in 1972). Ionospheric absorption makes AKR observable from space only.

Other processes are also involved in the aurora, and much remains to be learned. Auroral electrons created by large geomagnetic storms often seem to have energies below 1 keV, and are stopped higher up, near 200 km. Such low energies excite mainly the red line of oxygen, so that often such auroras are red. On the other hand, positive ions also reach the ionosphere at such time, with energies of 20-30 keV, suggesting they might be an "overflow" along magnetic field lines of the copious "ring current" ions accelerated at such times, by processes different from the ones described above.

Sources and types of aurora

Again, our understanding is very incomplete. A rough guess may point out three main sources:

  1. Dynamo action with the solar wind flowing past Earth, possibly producing quiet auroral arcs ("directly driven" process). The circuit of the accelerating currents and their connection to the solar wind are uncertain.
  2. Dynamo action involving plasma squeezed earthward by sudden convulsions of the magnetic substorms, created by southward oriented IMF lines.
  3. Satellite images of the aurora from above show a "ring of fire" along the auroral oval, often widest at midnight. That is the "diffuse aurora", not distinct enough to be seen by the eye. It does not seem to be associated with acceleration by electric currents, but to be due to electrons leaking out of the magnetic substorms.
Diffuse aurora observed by the DE-1 satellite

Any magnetic trapping is leaky—there always exists a bundle of directions ("loss cone") around the guiding magnetic field lines where particles are not trapped but escape. In the radiation belts of Earth, once particles on such trajectories are gone, new ones only replace them very slowly, leaving such directions nearly "empty". In the magnetotail, however, particle trajectories seem to be constantly reshuffled, probably when the particles cross the very weak field near the equator. As a result, the flow of electrons in all directions is nearly the same ("isotropic"), and that assures a steady supply of leaking electrons.

The energization of such electrons comes from magnetotail processes. The leakage of negative electrons does not leave the tail positively charged, because each leaked electron lost to the atmosphere is quickly replaced by a low energy electron drawn upwards from the ionosphere. Such replacement of "hot" electrons by "cold" ones is in complete accord with the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Other types of aurora have been observed from space, e.g. "poleward arcs" stretching sunward across the polar cap, the related "theta aurora", and "dayside arcs" near noon. These are relatively infrequent and poorly understood. Space does not allow discussion of other effects such as flickering aurora, "black aurora" and subvisual red arcs. In addition to all these, a weak glow (often deep red) has been observed around the two polar cusps, the "funnels" of field lines separating the ones that close on the day side of Earth from lines swept into the tail. The cusps allow a small amount of solar wind to reach the top of the atmosphere, producing an auroral glow.

Auroras on other planets

Jupiter aurora. The bright spot at far left is the end of field line to the moon Io; spots at bottom lead to the moons Ganymede and Europa.

Both Jupiter and Saturn have magnetic fields much stronger than Earth's (Uranus, Neptune and Mercury are also magnetic), and both have large radiation belts. Auroras has been observed on both, most clearly with the Hubble space telescope.

These auroras seem, like Earth's, to be powered by the solar wind. In addition, however, Jupiter's moons, especially Io, are also powerful sources of auroras. They arise from electric currents along field lines ("field aligned currents") generated by a dynamo mechanism, due to relative motion between the rotating planet and the moving moon. Io, which has active volcanism and an ionosphere, is a particularly strong source, and its currents also generate radio emissions, studied since 1955.

Recently, an aurora was detected on Mars, although it was thought that the lack of a strong magnetic field would not make one possible[6].

Early theories

Of the several theories proposed to explain auroral events, the following are considered obsolete.

  • Auroral electrons come from beams emitted by the sun. This was claimed around 1900 by Kristian Birkeland, whose experiments in a vacuum chamber with electron beams and magnetized spheres (miniature models of the earth or "terrellas") showed that such electrons would be guided towards the polar regions. Problems with this model included absence of aurora at the poles themselves, self-dispersal of such beams by their negative charge, and more recently, lack of any observational evidence in space.
  • The aurora is the overflow of the Van Allen radiation belt ("leaky bucket theory"). This was first disproved around 1962 by James Van Allen (1914-2006) and co-workers, who showed that the high rate at which energy was dissipated by the aurora would quickly drain all that was available in the radiation belt. Soon afterwards it became clear that most of the energy in trapped particles resided in positive ions, while auroral particles were almost always electrons, of relatively low energy.
  • The aurora is produced by solar wind particles guided by the earth's field lines to the top of the atmosphere. This holds true for the cusp aurora, but outside the cusp, the solar wind has no direct access. In addition, the main energy in the solar wind resides in positive ions; electrons have only about 0.5 eV (electron volt), and while in the cusp this may be raised to 50–100 eV, that still falls short of auroral energies.

Auroral images

Images of auroras are significantly more common today, given the rise in digital camera use with high enough sensitivities. Film and digital exposure to auroral displays is fraught with many difficulties, particularly if faithfulness of reproduction is an important objective. Due to the different spectral energies present, and changing dynamically throughout the exposure, the results are somewhat unpredictable. Different layers of the film emulsion respond differently to lower light levels, and choice of film can be very important. Longer exposures aggregate the rapidly changing energy and often blanket the dynamic attribute of a display. Higher sensitivity creates issues of graininess.

David Malin pioneered multiple exposure using multiple filters for astronomical photography, recombining the images in the laboratory to recreate the visual display more accurately. For scientific research, proxies are often used, such as ultraviolet, and re-colored to simulate the appearance to humans. Predictive techniques are also used, to indicate the extent of the display, a highly useful tool for aurora hunters. Terrestrial features often find their way into aurora images, making them more accessible and more likely to be published by major Web sites.[7]

Aurora in folklore

In Bulfinch's Mythology from 1855 by Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) there is the claim that in Norse mythology:

The Valkyrior are warlike virgins, mounted upon horses and armed with helmets and spears. /.../ When they ride forth on their errand, their armour sheds a strange flickering light, which flashes up over the northern skies, making what men call the "aurora borealis", or "Northern Lights"[8].

While a striking notion, there is nothing in the Old Norse literature supporting this claim. Although auroral activity is common over Scandinavia and Iceland today, it is possible that the Magnetic North Pole was considerably further away from this region during the centuries before the documentation of Norse mythology, thus explaining the absent references[9].

The first Old Norse account of the northern lights is instead found in the Norwegian chronicle Konungs Skuggsjá from AD 1250. The chronicler has heard about this phenomenon from compatriots returning from Greenland, and he gives three possible explanations: that the ocean was surrounded by vast fires, that the sun flares could reach around the world to its night side, or that glaciers could store energy so that they eventually became fluorescent[10].

An old Scandinavian name for northern lights translates as "herring flash". It was believed that northern lights were the reflections cast by large swarms of herring onto the sky.

Another Scandinavian source refers to "the fires that surround the North and South edges of the world". This has been put forward as evidence that the Norse ventured as far as Antarctica, although this is insufficient to form a solid conclusion.

The Finnish name for northern lights is revontulet, fox fires. According to legend, foxes made of fire lived in Lapland, and revontulet were the sparks they whisked up into the atmosphere with their tails.

In Estonian, they are called virmalised, spirit beings of higher realms.

The Sami people believed that one should be particularly careful and quiet when observed by the northern lights (called guovssahasat in Northern Sami). Mocking the northern lights or singing about them was believed to be particularly dangerous and could cause the lights to descend on the mocker and kill him.

The Algonquin believed the lights to be their ancestors dancing around a ceremonial fire.

In Inuit folklore, northern lights were the spirits of the dead playing football with human skulls over the sky. They also used the aurora to get their children home after dark by claiming that if you whistled in their presence they would come down and split their heads from their body to play football with it.

In Latvian folklore, northern lights, especially if red and observed in winter, are believed to be fighting souls of dead warriors, an omen foretelling disaster (especially war or famine).

In Scotland, the northern lights were known as "the merry dancers" or na fir-chlis. There are many old sayings about them, including the Scottish Gaelic proverb "When the merry dancers play, they are like to slay." The playfulness of the merry dancers was supposed to end occasionally in quite a serious fight, and next morning when children saw patches of red lichen on the stones, they say amongst themselves that "the merry dancers bled each other last night". The appearance of these lights in the sky was considered a sign of the approach of unsettled weather.

Aurora in popular culture

  • The animated film Happy Feet, which largely takes place in Antarctica, depicts Aurora Australis.
  • Also in "Happy Feet", the film on the Emperor Penguins of South Pole, there is reference to the Aurora Australis with a qoute" The Southern Sky sang at all hours of the day" and the screen shows auroral patterns with the sky lit up.
  • The American poet Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) titled one of his long poems and the 1950 collection of poems in which it appeared "The Auroras of Autumn."
  • The words of the folksong "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen" were written by Mary and Mel Webb.
  • The Aurora Borealis featured in the 1983 Scottish film Local Hero.
  • The Aurora Borealis cause a temporal anomaly in the 2000 film Frequency, featuring Dennis Quaid. As a result, a son is able to communicate with his father via HAM radio some thirty years in the past and alter history.
  • The northern lights are mentioned in the song "Amber Waves" by American singer-songwriter Tori Amos.
  • The northern lights are mentioned in the song "Farmhouse" by the American jam band Phish.
  • The northern lights are mentioned in the song "I Ran (So Far Away)" by the British pop band Flock of Seagulls.
  • The northern lights are mentioned in the song "North to Alaska" sung by Johnny Horton.
  • The Aurora Borealis is mentioned as "shinin' down on Dallas" in the song "Can You Picture That" sung by Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem on the Muppet Movie soundtrack.
  • They are featured in several episodes of the early 1990's television series Northern Exposure.
  • A member of the Marvel Comics superhero team Alpha Flight is named Aurora, after the Northern Lights.
  • The title of the first book of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights, is a reference to the aurora borealis, which plays a large role in the novel.
  • In The X-Files: The Game, the lights are utilised by the United States Government to hide the existence of extra-terrestrial life and UFOs.
  • Duke Ellington's (1899-1974) Queen Suite has a piece entitled "Northern Lights".
  • Neil Young refers to Aurora Borealis in his song "Pochahontas" from the album Rust Never Sleeps. "Aurora Borealis, the icy sky at night, paddles cut the water in a long and hurried flight"
  • In an episode of The Simpsons, Principal Skinner tries to fool Superintendent Chalmers by saying that the light coming from his kitchen (the kitchen is actually on fire) is the Aurora Borealis. To which the superintendent incredulously replies, "Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?" When Skinner affirms the implausible event, Chalmers believes it and asks if he may be allowed to see them, but receives a negative answer from Skinner.
  • One of the scenes in the 1996 Broken Lizard film Puddle Cruiser takes place at an Aurora Borealis party.
  • The fourth piano concerto composed by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981) is named "Aurora Borealis", or "Nordljos".
  • The dogs in Eight Below (2006) watch and chase Aurora Australis.
  • In the Little Einsteins episode, "The Northern Night Light", The Northern Lights are viewed as the sky laughing in different colors. The children say it is “the best nightlight in the world!”
  • Many prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush believed that the Northern Lights were the reflection of the mother lode of all gold. Robert W. Service (1874-1958) parodies this idea in his poem "The Ballad of the Northern Lights" with the motherlode ending up being radium.
  • A strain of cannabis is known as Northern Lights, and is known for its "spacey", ethereal-like high.
  • The Finnish band The Rasmus mention the Northern Lights in their song "Still Standing" on their 2003 album Dead Letters in the lines, "I wish you were here tonight with me to see the Northern Lights/I wish you were here tonight with me/I wish I could have you by my side tonight while the sky is burning/I would I could have you by my side."

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Birkeland, Kristian. 1908. "The Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition 1902-3."
  2. ↑ Fritz, Hermann. 1881. "Das Polarlicht."
  3. ↑ Feldshtein, Y. 1963. "Some problems concerning the morphology of auroras and magnetic disturbances at high latitudes". Geomagnetism and Aeronomy. Vol. 3, pp. 183-192.
  4. ↑ Green J. L., Boardsen S., Odenwald S., Humble J., Pazamickas K. A.. 2005. Eyewitness reports of the great auroral storm of 1859. Adv. in Space Res. 38 (2006) 145-154.
  5. ↑ Aurora Colors
  6. ↑ Mars Aurora
  7. ↑ It is possible to take excellent images with standard film (employing ISO ratings between 100 and 400) and a single-lens reflex camera with full aperture, a fast lens (f1.4 50mm, for example), and exposures between 10 and 30 seconds, depending on the aurora's display strength. 2001 image
  8. ↑ Northern Mythology
  9. ↑ The Aurora Borealis and the Vikings
  10. ↑ Beliefs in Ancient Times

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