Southern Lights Research Paper

As far as history goes the lights have been around for a while which is known because researchers have found cave painting that go back to around 30,000 years ago. The lights were originally understood to be a harbinger for destruction or for war (1). This was thought to be until they found out what caused the lights. Many astronomers, philosophers and authors refer to the lights in their work. Some of these people include Goethe, Aristotle, Descartes, and Halley (1). In 1616, the lights were called aurora borealis after the Greek name for wind, Boreas and the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora. Galileo Galilei named the lights after an astronomer. The southern lights are less takes about because they are often harder to see because the south is …show more content…
The most common and best places to see the lights are on northern Canada and Alaska. Although these places don't always offer the easiest views of the lights. Sweden, Norway, and Finland have good viewing points especially when there are solar flares(2). When these occur it is possible to see the lights from northern England and the top of Scotland. On rare occasions the lights have been seen even further south. When to see them, the lights are always available to see but the best time would be during the winter months because of lower levels of pillion that affects the light …show more content…
It takes about 40 hours for these particles to reach the earth with the help of solar wind. When they reach the earth they create the know aurora borealis. Certain cycles cause the lights to be the most stunning, such as solar storms and sunspots. These occur about ever 11 years. The weakest solar maximum was in 2013 (3). There have been a total of 22 full cycles since records were being kept in 1749. Monitoring space whether is a job that researchers are doing to determine when the northern lights will be more spectacular. Debris from space is constantly falling to earth such as radiation and magnetic waves that could potentially be life threatening. The earths magnetic fields do a great job with redirecting these harmful particles and rays. The particles that do get through are drawn to the north and south poles (3). As they go through the planets magnetic fields the combine with atoms and different molecules such as nitrogen and oxygen to name just a few elements the result of this merging causes the breathtaking lights to appear in the sky. The most common colors seen in the aurora borealis are greens, yellows, pinks, violets, blues, and sometimes whites and oranges