Aurora comes from the Latin word Ios.It is said that Ios is the incarnation of "dawn" in Greek mythology, the daughter of the Greek god Titan, and the sister of the sun god and the moon goddess.From the moment when humans first looked up to the sky and saw the northern lights, the northern lights have always been a "mystery".For a long time, people have developed their own aurora legends. For example, in Finnish, the northern lights are called "revolutionary", which literally translates as the fire of the fox.In ancient times, Finns believed that when a fox ran on a snow covered hillside, its tail swept up glittering snowflakes all the way to the sky, forming the Northern Lights.
In addition, some Sami people andSiberianIt is believed that the aurora borealis came from the wounds of the dead, but the colorful sky is not a sign of pain, on the contrary, it is the blood left by the ghosts who were injured when playing ball games or riding horses.andInuitIt is believed that "the aurora is the torch for ghosts and gods to guide the souls of the dead to heaven".The aborigines regard "the aurora as the presence of gods, and they are convinced that the fast moving aurora will make the voice of gods stepping in the air, which will take away people's souls and leave bad luck".stayArcticAn aurora in the upper atmosphere.
The northern lights can be seen on sunny nights all year round in the Arctic Circle according to the principle, but they often appear in the night sky in winter.Although the cause of this natural wonder is still uncertain, it has attracted countless people to look up to the sky for thousands of years.The northern lights are vast and mysterious, which makes people sigh when they look at them. They feel that life is small and the universe is infinite.To watch the northern lights clearly, the site should avoid the disturbance of urban lights.When camping in the wild of Lapland, you can enjoy the northern lights while having tea around a warm campfire.Because we need to wait in the wild for a long time, enough cold proof clothes are essential.The probability of seeing the northern lights in northern Lapland is high, about 75%.[1-2]
Formation process
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For a long time, the cause of aurora has been controversial.Some people think that: it is the outer edge of the earth burning fire;Others believe that it is the light reflected from the sky after the sunset;Others believe that it is an energy released at night after the polar ice and snow absorb and store sunlight during the day.[3]The mystery of the celestial phenomena did not have a physical and reasonable explanation until humans sent satellite rockets into space.
In essence, auroras are optical phenomena excited by charged particles blown by solar storms and atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere of the earth (100-200 km above the ground).The formation of aurora has three important processes: charged particles generated by the solar wind, charged particles attracted by the earth's magnetic field to the North and South Poles, and excited by the operation of atmospheric components.The so-called "solar wind" is a kind of energy continuously emitted by the sun to the universe. It is composed of electrons and protons.Due to the intense activity of the sun, countless charged particles are emitted. When charged particles flow towards the earth and enter the range of the earth's magnetic field, affected by the earth's magnetic field, they will enter the upper atmosphere near the north and south magnetic poles at a high speed along the earth's magnetic line of force and collide with oxygen atoms, nitrogen molecules and other particles, resulting in the phenomenon of "electromagnetic storm" and "visible light",It has become the "Aurora" of public attention.
Human exploration
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The Northern Lights over Alaska[4]
For a long timelightPeople always want to understand and explore the mystery of the solar current. In the last century, people used cameras, cameras and satellites to clearly see and understand the discharge phenomenon caused by the collision between the solar current and the earth's magnetic field. It is a beam of electronic light. It emits a million megawatts of light in the sky 60 miles away from the earth, but in the age of no science,People can only use their infinite imagination to describe this wonderful natural scenery, so there are many mysterious legends handed down from ancient times.The name of the Northern Lights comes from scientistsCarsonAfter repeated consideration, Di called this phenomenon“Oro”(Aurora), the goddess of weaving in ancient Roman mythology, represents the dawn before the rising sun.
According to scientist Berkeley, the electrons from the sun fly freely in space. When they break into the earth's magnetic field, the electrons will shine when they collide with gas, which is the northern lights. His theory was not confirmed until 60 years later.When the US Caisuo 14 rocket was launched, scientists first proved that the earth has two magnetic fields. One year later, Gangwan 2 first measured the solar plasma (the charged material constituting the solar airflow), and the solar airflow can touch the earth.The solar air flow is also called the solar wind. These radiations rush towards the earth at a speed of 3 million km. Fortunately, the earth's magnetic field changes the direction of the solar wind, which prevents us from being attacked by the solar wind. When the solar wind collides with the earth's magnetic field, 1 million trillion energy will be generated. Small particles in the earth's atmosphere will release energy. Oxygen atoms will emit green light or red light, and oxygen molecules will emit red light orYellow lightThe nitrogen molecule emits purple light or pink light.If the aurora appears, is there any sound?In Canadaarctic circleThe aborigines inside said that the northern lights will emit whistles and footsteps, which is the sound of the soul walking in the snow in heaven, and how much energy is released by the solar wind hitting the earth's magnetic field?Wait, this is the mystery that scientists are eager to solve. The aurora, like itself, is like smoke and fog, which makes us sigh at the miracle of the creator of nature.
Essential principle
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The aurora borealis
In essence, auroras are optical phenomena excited by atoms and molecules operating in the uppermost layer of the earth's atmosphere (100-200 kilometers above the ground).Its formation has three major elements: the sunwind、Geomagnetic field, atmosphere.The so-called“solar wind”It is a kind of energy continuously emitted by the sun to the universe. It is composed of electrons and protons.Due to the intense activity of the sun, countless charged particles are emitted. When charged particles flow towards the earth and enter the range of the earth's magnetic field, affected by the earth's magnetic field, they will enter the upper atmosphere near the north and south magnetic poles at a high speed along the earth's magnetic line of force and collide with oxygen atoms, nitrogen molecules and other particles, resulting in the phenomenon of "electromagnetic storm" and "visible light",It has become the "Aurora" of public attention.
morphological character
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The Northern Lights over the Rocky Mountains
Aurora is a kind of natural astronomical wonder. It has no fixed shape and different colors. Most of the colors are green, white, yellow and blue. Occasionally, it also presents bright red and purple. It is graceful, colorful and mysterious.The aurora can only be seen in high latitude areas on cold autumn and winter nights. Because the northern lights are most likely to appear on dark and cold nights, the best time is from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. from November to February of the next year, sometimes lasting about an hour.
Generally, the aurora can be divided into four types: arc aurora, band aurora, curtain aurora, and radial aurora.The northern part is called aurora borealis, and the southern part is called aurora australis.
Place of occurrence
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Aurora Borealis over the fjord near Reykjavik, Iceland
The aurora most often occurs in two annular zones near 67 ° magnetic latitude, which are calledAurora australisAnd the northern lights.Alaska, Northern Canada, SiberiaGreenlandThe southern tip of Iceland andNorwayNorth coast mainly;The southern hemisphere is concentrated near Antarctica.It is worth mentioning that Alaska and Northern Canada near the Arctic are the best places to watch the aurora,AlaskaFairbanks has won the reputation of "the capital of northern lights". It is famous for its long hours of sunshine in cold winter and summer. There are more than 200 days of aurora in a year. People go there to enjoy its spectacular scenery and witness the spectacle of aurora that will appear every night.If you have the chance to go to Alaska, you must see the charming northern lights and capture the ever-changing super "lightning show", and you will also completely fall in love with the northern lights!Northernmost in ChinaHeilongjiang ProvinceGreater Khingan MountainsMohe CountyThe northern lights can also be observed.
Shooting the northern lights is a unique challenge.Because the northern lights are prevalent in winter, the weather is very cold, and the temperature will be 40 or 50 degrees below zero.The camera should not be left outside for more than a few minutes because it will freeze.Film is not as sensitive as human eyes, and special time interval technology is used.
The riddle of sound
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Scientists have discovered the place where the mysterious sound of the Northern Lights is generated.This sound inspired many folk stories and frightened and awed the homeless in the wilderness. But the strange crackle and deep roar of the Northern Lights were first explained by science.
Researchers at the University of Alto in Finland identified the place where these sounds were emitted, and then found that they came from about 70 meters above the ground.However, the aurora borealis caused by the interference of the earth's magnetic field appeared about 120 kilometers above the ground.The researchers installed three independent loudspeakers in an observation site recording these auroral sounds, and then found the source of the sound.They compared the sounds captured by these loudspeakers and finally found out where the sounds came from.Finnish Meteorological Institute At the same time, the geomagnetic interference was measured.
Professor Unito K-Lane of Alto University said: "Our research confirms that when the northern lights appear, people can hear natural aurora sounds, which are related to the scenes they see. Previously, researchers thought that the northern lights are too far away from us to hear the sounds it produces. This is true.But our research shows that these sounds related to the northern lights we see are likely to be caused by the same sound from the sunHigh-energy particleGenerated.These particles cause the Northern Lights to appear in the distant sky.These particles or the geomagnetic interference generated by them seem to produce sounds closer to the ground. "
The recorded aurora sound is similar to the crackling sound and deep roar, and the duration is very short.Others who heard the aurora described them as sounds and crackles coming from afar.Given these different descriptions, the researchers speculate that several mechanisms are responsible for the formation of these auroral sounds.These sounds are very soft, so you must listen very carefully to hear them and distinguish them from ambient noise.
Related legends
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The Birth of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan Family
It is said that night came on a day more than two thousand years BC.As the sun sets, the night has spread its black wings on the land of China, covering the distant mountains, near trees, rivers and hills, and everything else.A young woman named Fu Bao was sitting alone in the wilderness. The fire like passion of the autumn water under her eyebrows was obviously deeply attracted by the quiet night.The night sky looks like an endless sea, which is vast.Calm and mysterious.On the sky curtain, the stars were shining and shining, quietly overlooking the dark ground. Suddenly, in the constellation Ursa Major, a rainbow like magic light belt appeared, like smoke and fog, swaying, moving and static, like flowing clouds and flowing water, and finally turned into a huge halo, lingering around the Big Dipper.At that time, the brightness of the ring increased sharply, just like the bright moon hanging in the sky, pouring a light silver glow to the earth, reflecting the whole field.Everything around is clear and visible, and everything is alive.When Fu Bao saw this scene, he was moved.So he was pregnant and gave birth to a son.The boy is the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.The above may be one of the oldest myths and legends about aurora in the world.
shanhaiching
There are also records of aurora in the ancient book "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" in China.It is mentioned in the book that there is a fairy in the north, whose appearance is like a red snake, shining in the night sky, and its name is Touching Dragon.There is a description of the Dragon Touch as follows: "The human face and the snake body are red, with a length of thousands of miles, and the god of Zhongshan is also." The Dragon Touch here is actually the aurora.Aurora is a special kind of light in the sky. It is the only upper atmospheric phenomenon that can be seen by the naked eye. It often appears in the high latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres, mainly in the Antarctic and Arctic regions.This beautiful display of light is caused by discharge radiation in the upper atmosphere.The northern hemisphere is called aurora borealis, and the southern hemisphere is called aurora australis;The northern and southern auroras are generally called auroras.Of course, the Northern Lights can be seen in China.In ancient times, there was no word "aurora" in China, so they were called according to the shape difference of aurora, such as "Tiangou", "Daoxing", "Chiyou Banner", "Tiankaiyan", "stars and meteors like rain", etc. Most of them were scattered in the records of astrology, demon stars, alien stars, meteors, and auspicious qi in historical books.
Latin
The term aurora comes from the Latin word Ios.It is said that Ios is the incarnation of the "dawn" (in fact, it refers to the dawn and dawn) in Greek mythology, the daughter of the Greek god Titan, the sister of the sun god and the moon goddess, and the mother of many winds such as the north wind and many stars such as the evening star.The aurora was also said to be the wife of Orion.In her works of art, Ios is said to be a young woman. She is either walking fast with a young man in her arms, or rising from the sea in a four wheeled carriage driven by a flying horse;Sometimes she is also depicted as such a goddess, holding a large water jar, stretching her wings, giving alms to the world, just like the Guanyin Bodhisattva in the Buddhist story of China, who sprinkles nectar to the world.[5]
Research progress
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On June 13, 2017, the National Polar Institute of Japan andThe University of Tokyo、Kyoto UniversityandNagoya University The research team of.The special aurora that repeatedly flickers in a short time is produced by the action of hydrogen ions.It is expected that this study will further reveal the mystery of aurora occurrence.[6]
