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It’s one of those experiences that features on almost everyone’s bucket list. Right next to learning another language and bungee jumping, seeing the Northern Lights is a must-do for people from all walks of life, from the intrepid traveller to the occasional holidaymaker.
Every year people travel huge distances to see the northern lights, heading to Scandinavian countries such Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and as far as Canada to see the beautiful aurora displays.
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But earlier this year, NASA, true to form, went one better and released both video footage and stunning still images showing the Northern Lights as they are seen from space. The images show beautiful red and bright green auroras over the Earth.
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The northern lights are natural light displays in the sky in the high latitudes of the Arctic regions. There are also Southern Lights in the Antarctic regions. These auroras (or aurorae) are created by a ‘solar wind’ of energetically charged particles that enter the earth’s magnetic field, accelerate and crash with atoms in the planet’s upper high altitude atmosphere, emitting a multi-coloured glow.
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The images were taken from the International Space Station (ISS), 225 miles above the Earth, and time-lapsed into a video to show the station as it moves around the Earth.
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[/caption]This particular shot shows the northern lights on the horizon over Canada. The images were taken as the International Space Station passed over the Great Lakes at the end of January 2012. The bright spots on the earth are lights shining from Chicago, Detroit and Toronto, while the green lights on the horizon are the Northern Lights.
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The Northern Lights, otherwise known as the Aurora Borealis are named after the Roman Goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for wind, Boreas. The Southern Lights in the Antarctic regions are known as Aurora Australis.
The Cree (one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America and Canada) refer to the auroras as the ‘Dance of the Spirits’. In the Middle Ages, Europeans commonly believed the lights to be a sign from God.
