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History and Research |
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Ancient Legends
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Before much was known about the Auroras people were forced to form their own theories to explain their existance. Many different nothern cultures had their own explainations for the causes of the lights. Inuits from Greenland and Northern Canada beleived that the Gods were playing soccer with a walrus skull. Inuits from Hudson Bay believed it was old spirits leading the new ones. In the 13th Century the Nordic people believed the Northern Lights were caused by fire that surrounded the earth, sun beams, and glaciers. The Sweedish named the Aurora Borealis "Silblixt" which means herring flash. They beleaved that large groups of Herring were reflected into the sky. In Finland the Aurora Borealis is called revontulet which means fox fires. They believed that the foxes were running to the mountains, and that when their tails whipped they created sparks. |
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Early Exploration |
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In 1619 Galileo named the Aurora Borealis after Aurora the goddess of the morning. Henry Candendesh was one of the first men to do scientific research on the auroras and discovered that they were between one hundred and one hundred thirty km above the earth's surface. |
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Kristian Birekland
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Kiristian Birkleland spent his whole life researching the Auroras. He took the picture of the Aurora Borealis. He also believed that the Aurora was caused by the sun's rays. He did experiments which supported his theory. |
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Satelite Exploration |
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In 1958 the United States launched Explorer One. It was designed to measure cosmic rays. It worked as it was expected to untill it reaches South America. It was discovered that the cause of the failure was an area of highly charged particles that the satelite had come accross. This area would later be known as the Van Allen Belts. The University of Calgary is working on the first simulated images of the Aurora Borealis. They are studying the paths of several of the electron beams, and also the motion of the light as translated into waves. |
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