Old Stories about Aurora
Some indigenous peoples of North America believed that these glowing veils were the spirits of departed children, ancestors, and warriors. A long time ago, the Finnish people called the northern lights “fox fire”, believing that an arctic fox swept its long tail across the snow, sending streams of sparkling snowflakes up into the sky, creating the northern lights. In medieval times, peasants trembled with fear, believing that the strange light was an omen of war, or perhaps the heavenly glow was a message from God. The great Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei called the mysterious Northern Lights “Aurora”, naming them after the Roman goddess of dawn. According to Roman mythology, at every dawn, before sunrise, the goddess Aurora brings light to the world.

Science of Aurora
The sun sends us more than heat and light. It also sends small charged particles our way. The protective magnetic field around Earth shields us from most of the particles. Some particles move along the magnetic field, toward the Polar regions. When these particles collide with molecules in the upper atmosphere, they release the light of the aurora. Auroras are not unique to Earth. Any planet with an atmosphere may have auroras. The gas giant planet Jupiter has auroras. An ultrasensative navigation camera on NASA’s Juno spacecraft has caught Jupiter’s aurora. Scientists have found that the number of sunspots varies with an approximate 11- year cycle. When solar activity reaches its peak years, the largest numbers of sunspots appear, and sunspot eruptions occur more frequently energizing the most powerful auroral storms of the cycle. NASA scientists discovered how auroral storms develop with a group of five satellites called THEMIS. Their measurements showed that the Earth’s magnetic field lines sometimes snap and reconnect triggering the most colorful Northern light displays.