Aurora Borealis (Northern lights)

(very one of us carry a bucket of wish list which contain the things we really want to do in our life , I my self had a long list but to see the Northern lights “Aurora Borealis “a novelty , was on the top of list . Many of us don’t have any clue as to what they are or how they have come to be. this phenomena being so elusive only adds another layer of mystery and attraction to this majestic beauty. After two years of search we came to the conclusion that Alaska is our best bet. We decided to go for Aurora chasing to Fair banks Alaska . My son who came to drop me at the air port keep on reminding we “mom don’t be disappointed it’s a hit or miss situations if you won’t be able to see northern lights still you can have fun in Fair banks, please enjoy your trip “. Our guide took us from Fair bank hotel to 45 miles up north and stop the van on the edge of the mountain shivering with cold we all came out out of the van hoping to see the Aurora . The night was pitch black. Silence prevails on the majestic mountain, but within this calm silence I can feel the land murmuring its beautiful secrets in my ear, wrapping its arms around me and swathing me in layers of onyx and navy darkness bejeweled with stars like the flick of a paintbrush against canvas. I stand on the edge of a hill, cottony snow blanketing the ground around my feet as the winds icy tendrils creep through the cracks and crevices of my mauve jacket and settle into the next layer of my clothing. The cold in 9ancouver is frail as compared to the sharp, biting ache of the winds in Fairbanks, Alaska. The temperature here rests at a soul chilling -40 as we stand huddled like penguins, freezing on the peak of the mountain. Though the cold makes us want to shut our eyes tight and bury ourselves in the sparse warmth of our clothing, we all look at the sky with hope. Anxiety racks through us as we sip our steaming hot chocolate, only worsening as the sky remains in darkness. Our guide had told us there is always a fifty fifty chance to see the beautiful phenomenon of the Northern lights. Suddenly I tense, as whispering cracks fill the silence and out of the velvety black night pillars of color streak down from above. Shimmering shades of green dance amongst the stars, mingling with purple and turquoise as they move towards heaven. The lower edge glows against the silence of the darkness, only moments through my trance do I realize that I am witnessing one of the seven wonders of the world “Aurora Borealis”. No other words could come near describing the experience of watching such beauty unfold except breathtaking. Colors ripple and break and reappear and stretch above the earth, each color dancing to their own tunes, twirling, swirling and exploding in delicate showers of pink and purple with dominating washes of green ,each with perfect harmony. It is as dramatic as a thunder storm yet as calm and gentle as the morning breeze. My neice comes beside me, and we stand together in the snow, letting ourselves wander into the vastness of the color laced sky. Amazing and mystic was that experience but the scientific explanation is not so poetic and fascinating. According to science, Auroras are born from charged particles released from the Sun’s atmosphere, which collide with gaseous particles. 9ariations in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common Auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora. The temperature above the surface of the sun is millions of degrees Celsius. At this temperature, collisions between gas molecules are free. Free electrons and protons are thrown from the sun’s atmosphere by the rotation of the sun and escape through holes in the magnetic field. Blown towards the earth by the solar wind, the charged particles are largely deflected by the earth’s magnetic field but the earth’s magnetic field is weaker at either pole and some particles enter the earth’s atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light that we perceive as the dancing lights in both the North and the South that we have now named med the Northern Lights, Southern Lights, or the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights not only bring visual beauty, but the phenomena also carries various myths, mysteries, and stories of legends. Many Indigenous people are very respectful to the natural beauty around them, and their stories regarding the Northern Lights are centered about sprits and souls of dead. In Danish folklore, there is another imaginative twist, where it is believed that the Northern Lights are reflections of racing swans trapped in ice, and the glimmering lights in the sky were caused by their flickering wings. The stories of old Norse mythology say that the Aurora’s lights are reflections from the shields of the beautiful virgin warriors, called 9alkyries, who rode over battlefields and chose the slain. Native Americans of North Dakota believe that the fiery lights are where medicine men stirred their great simmering pots. This description of the steaming pot resembles the boiling pot in the biblical story of Jeremiah. The rich and diverse culture of Japan holds a belief that child that conceived underneath the Aurora Borealis will be blessed with beauty, intellect, and good fortune. Many historical accounts of the North ern Lights are available in early Chinese records, where it was described as a “red cloud spreading all over the sky.” Seneca, a Roman philosopher, wrote that an “Aurora in AD 37 tricked the emperor into sending troops to aid what he thought was the burning seaport of Ostia”. In 1583, similar “fires in the air” mobilized thousands of French pilgrims, who prayed to avert the wrath of God, and on September 15, 183 , an intense Aurora appeared in the sky for hours, moving confused fire fighters to attempt to extinguish it. Aurora can be seen in the North and in the South, but the best place on the planet to maximize your chances of an Auroral encounter is in Churchill Manitoba, Canada. Such a beautiful light display of nature is not to be missed, and any person standing before it will be in awe, as so many other people have been before. I am lucky to have witnessed the majestic beauty and the dancing lights of the Aurora, and I still have the deep, aching urge to observe this heavenly beauty much closer. My heart will forever stay with the vast calmness of the snow covered mountain I stood on that night amongst the quivering arches of dancing colors in perfect harmony with one another.