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Friday, 06 February 2009 17:32 |
Guide to Northern Lights website
Northern Lights over Tromsø - The Northern Lights zone is a circle around the Magnetic North Pole. The section of Northern Norway north of Vesterålen is situated in this zone and, as a result, this is where you have the best chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Tromsø is situated right in the centre of the Northern Lights zone.
Other panoramas from this place
There are other places in the Northern Hemisphere located in this zone. However, except Iceland, the majority of these areas are sparsely populated or uninhabited and for most people are difficult to access or virtually inaccessible. The Northern Lights are visible on occasions in central and southern areas of Scandinavia, and also in parts of Southern Canada and the US Midwest, but not nearly as often as we experience here. Aurorae are produced by the collision of charged particles from Earth's magnetosphere, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles, with atoms and molecules of Earth's upper atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km (50 miles)). The particles have energies of 1 to 100 keV. They originate from the Sun and arrive at the vicinity of Earth in the relatively low-energy solar wind. When the trapped magnetic field of the solar wind is favourably oriented (principally southwards) it connects with Earth's magnetic field, and solar particles enter the magnetosphere and are swept to the magnetotail. Further magnetic reconnection accelerates the particles towards Earth.
When the storms on the sun are at their most intense, the Northern Lights are visible over central and southern Europe and in parts of the USA. However, this is so rare that very few people living in these regions have ever seen the Northern Lights. In earlier times, outbreaks of the Northern Lights were seen as warnings of disasters or other calamities.
An old Scandinavian name for northern lights translates as "herring flash". It was believed that northern lights were the reflections cast by large swarms of herring onto the sky.
Another Scandinavian source refers to "the fires that surround the North and South edges of the world". This has been suggested as evidence that the Norse ventured as far as Antarctica, although this is insufficient to form a conclusion.
The Finnish name for northern lights is revontulet, fox fires. According to legend, foxes made of fire lived in Lapland, and revontulet were the sparks they whisked up into the atmosphere with their tails.
In Estonian they are called virmalised, spirit beings of higher realms. In some legends they are given negative characters, in some positive ones.
The Sami people believed that one should be particularly careful and quiet when observed by the northern lights (called guovssahasat in Northern Sami). Mocking the northern lights or singing about them was believed to be particularly dangerous and could cause the lights to descend on the mocker and kill him/her.
The Algonquin believed the lights to be their ancestors dancing around a ceremonial fire.
In Latvian folklore northern lights, especially if red and observed in winter, are believed to be fighting souls of dead warriors, an omen foretelling disaster (especially war or famine).
In Russian folklore aurora borealis was associated with the fire dragon ("Ognenniy Zmey"), who came to women and seduced them in the absence of their husbands.
In Scotland, the northern lights were known as "the mirrie dancers" or na fir-chlis. There are many old sayings about them, including the Scottish Gaelic proverb "When the mirrie dancers play, they are like to slay." The playfulness of the mirrie dancers was supposed to end occasionally in quite a serious fight, and next morning when children saw patches of red lichen on the stones, they say among themselves that "the mirrie dancers bled each other last night". The appearance of these lights in the sky was considered a sign of the approach of unsettled weather.
Many prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush believed that the Northern Lights were the reflection of the mother lode of all gold.
The Inuit people of Alaska tell the traditional tale of their ancient ancestors who are seen in the rippling movements of the northern lights. They say that the "shadows" within the display are relatives and friends who have gone to the sky and march along or dance to remind the living people of their presence. When the dogs bark and howl at the sounds of the aurora borealis, it's said that the dogs recognize their one-time companions in the colorful display. |
