Ever seen the Tom and Jerry episode when they are in a polar region and at the end very beautiful & colorful lights are shown dancing on the instructions of Jerry?  Aren’t those lights very beautiful and eye-catching? You might have thought them to be a computer animation miracle, but those are actually a natural beauty!!!

Auroras,better known as Northern(and Southern) Polar Lights or Polar Auroras or Aurorae, are natural colorful lights visible in the sky, usually at the night time,particularly in the polar regions.They typically occur in the Ionosphere,the uppermost layer of our atmoshere.The phenomenon of Aurora is an interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and the Solar wind.Aurora can be spotted throughout the world, but, it is most visible closer to the poles due to the longer periods of darkness and the magnetic field.

The first person to scratch his head to unveil the mystery of the Aurorae was Benjamin Franklin,the investigator of electricity.Following him, many theories have been proposed to explain the Auroral phenomenon. But,these theories are now obsolete.

In the northern latitudes,this spectacular phenomenon is called Aurora Borealis.Better known as the Northern Polar Lights,this effect is visible only in the skies of the Northern Hemisphere.Near the Northern Magnetic Pole,the lights appear high overhead but from further away,they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red.Most oftenly they occur in the months of September-October and March-April.The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history.

Their southern friend,the Aurora Australis or the Southern Polar Lights,has the similar properties but it can be only from high southern latitudes in Antarctica,Australia or South America.

The aurora mostly appears either as a diffuse glow or as curtains extending in the east-west direction. Sometimes,they form “quiet arcs” and sometimes the “active aurora”.But their other types have also been seen-”diffuse aurora”,”poleward arcs”,”theta aurora”,”black aurora”,”dayside arcs” and many more.

The aurora is a common occurrence in the Poles. It is occasionally seen in temperate latitudes, when a strong magnetic storm temporarily expands the auroral oval.The ultimate energy source of the aurora is the solar wind flowing past the Earth.It is suggested that the Aurora is shaped by the Earth’s Magnetic Field.

The auroras which 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 throughout recent recorded history. It was the first time where the phenomena of auroral activity and electricity were unambiguously linked.

Other planets of our solar system like Jupiter and Saturn have magnetic fields much stronger than Earth’s (Jupiter’s equatorial field strength is 4.3 gauss, compared to 0.3 gauss for Earth), and both have large radiation belts. Aurora has been observed on both, most clearly with the Hubble Space Telescope. Uranus and Neptune have also been observed to have aurorae.

Images of aurora are significantly more common today due to the rise of use of digital cameras that have high enough sensitivities. Film and digital exposure to auroral displays is fraught with difficulties, particularly if faithfulness of reproduction is an objective.

The Aurorae are also an indispensable part of the folklore of the natives of polar regions.Scandinavians call them “Herring flash” while Finnish people call them “Fox fires”.The Inuit people of the Alaska have a belief that their ancient ancestors are seen in the rippling movements of the Northern Lights. Déjà vu?Affirmative.An animated movie on the Inuit people and their belief is there in the market and is the best way to enjoy this traditional tale.The lights have also been a basis to many other movies like “Frequency” and “The Langoliers”.

“Aurora Borealis comes in view.Aurora comes in view”,a lyric from the song “I Ran(So Far By)”.

-Keta Singla