Project of the Month: A new form of the Northern Lights discovered thanks to amateur stargazers
In a truly heart-warming science story, Minna Palmroth, funded by the PRESTISSIMO (Plasma Reconnection, Shocks and Turbulence in Solar System Interactions: Modelling and Observations) project, has been able to introduce the world to a marvellous new form of the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights – or aurora borealis – come in many different shapes and are the result of charged particles ejected from the Sun and funnelled towards the North and South Pole as a result of the Earth’s magnetic field. Then they interact with atmospheric gases (such as oxygen and nitrogen), increasing the energy of these gases which is then released as light. The new pattern of the Northern Lights resembles sand dunes and was the result of Palmroth’s invitation to join a Facebook group of aurora enthusiasts to give them a science lesson on the different forms the Lights take. To find out more about this charming discovery, you can access the original press release here: https://helsinki.fi/en/news/science-news/citizen-science-discovers-a-new-form-of-the-northern-lights “International interest has been phenomenal and the great thing is that due to its vast media reach, at least 2.5 billion people have seen the story. Now I’m constantly receiving whole new observations from enthusiastic ‘citizen scientists’ from all over the world!” Minna Palmroth, PRESTISSIMO Principal Investigator
Keywords
PRESTISSIMO, Northern Lights, aurora borealis, aurora, atmospheric gases, magnetic field, stargazer, astronomer