Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, are a beautiful and stunning sight to behold, but they are potentially dangerous to communication systems, space flights, electric equipment and compasses. Essentially, these lights are the result of the interaction of solar wind particles with the Earth's magnetic field, and scientists seem to have finally figured out the 30 year-old mystery of what triggers the space explosions that result in these beautiful lights, as demonstrated in this nice animation from National Geographic.And if you want to learn more about the sun, including the most powerful sun storm ever recorded and the amazing insights to which it led, check out this episode of the wonderful Naked Scientists (fast forward to 26:31 for the fascinating and terrifying story on that storm), or go directly to that interview.
I just love how scientists figure things out!
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That's some cool news Berto; now we know!! On the downside, now those pesky creationists are going to jump on this.
ReplyDeleteDuring a debate in front of a mixed audience, some creationists took their argument to the mic... "Before we said that God made the Northern Lights, but we didn't know how; so we 'believed' he just willed them into being. Since we now know that He makes them by starting sun storms, we can predict when He will give us this beautiful gift of his creative artistry in the sky! Why won't you silly atheists see this as a sign of His love for you? Jesus is Lord!" Ugh... At that moment Richard Dawkins pops up out of the crowd and asks: "You believe that God can do anything, right?" The creationists respond: "Yes, of course, nothing is beyond His power! Isn't He great?" Dawkins replies: "Well, if he has the power, why go through the trouble of making sun storms when he can snap those ropes whenever he wants?" The creationists pause. After a few moments, one of them spits at Dawkins, saying: "Get behind me Satan!"
It's nice to know science has more sense, and that's why it has the answers.