Talk:Aurora (astronomy)
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[edit] Problem opening Ogg file
Hello. I can't open the ogg file (Aurora Borealis from ISS) with Audacity neither Amadeus II. The applications don't recognize it as an ogg vorbis file. i don't know how to help, so i just leave this note ! elifsu
- It's not Ogg [[pooh you
Ogg Theora video. Please see Wikipedia:Media help. —Keenan Pepper 19:14, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Needs more cultural/historical info
This article is slanting towards too technical... it needs historical and cultural background. Some bits about noteworthy displays in modern times would be worthwhile, too. -76.4.49.201 22:12, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Recorded Sound
The article states that no one has recorded the sounds of the aurora, but what about stephen p. mcgreevy? http://www.auroralchorus.com, have these recordings been disproved?
These sound recordings are VLF waves, i.e. these are radio waves that are translated into sound by a radio reciever. They come from the magnetosphere, and some of these waves are associated with aurora, but they are not the sound of the aurora. (Lummerzheim 19:03, 20 December 2006 (UTC))
[edit] Link pruning
Too many external links have sprouted. We particularly don't need links to every pretty picture. You're invited to check a link or two and improve the "External links" section. (SEWilco 05:32, 3 November 2006 (UTC))
[edit] Ames, IA photo 12/14/06
It's not great and had I gotten there with the camera 20 minutes before, it was lighting up the whole sky, bottom to top and was just incredible. Still was quite a sight. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Btrotter (talk • contribs) 07:45, 15 December 2006 (UTC).
[edit] Currently Visible Auroras
Why is there no section or link for any currently visible auroras? Or are specific auroras non-notable? AstroHurricane001 22:25, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
- Auroras only last for a short while, so there would be no point of logging currently visible auroras. By the time the aurora would be logged it would have already have disappeared. Uwilldrop 18:43, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
- I added a link to the aurora forecast from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska (Lummerzheim 19:02, 20 December 2006 (UTC))
There are auroras in north here in every few days and they last for minutes. Logging them all would be ridiculous.
[edit] Altitude of the Aurora
In Sir John Franklin’s Journey to the Polar Sea, his entry in Chapter VIII - 1819, “January 3rd, he relates a story:
‘He was traveling in a canoe in the English River, and had landed near the Kettle River, when the coruscations of the Aurora Borealis were so vivid and low that the Canadians fell on their faces, and began praying and crying, fearing they should be killed: he himself threw away his gun and knife, that they might not attract the flashes, for they were within two feet from the earth, flitting along with incredible swiftness, and moving parallel to its surface. They continued for upward of five minutes, as near as he could judge, and made a loud rustling noise, like the waving of a flag in a strong breeze. After they had ceased, the sky became clear, with little wind.’
“…within two feet of the earth.” Is this possible? If not the Aurora, what could it have been?
A first hand account of the Aurora Australis touching the surface of the earth is given in Sir Ernest Shackleton's The Heart of the Antartic Chapter 15.
"About the same time we began to see the aurora, and night after night, except when the moon was at its full or the sky overcast, the waving mystic lines of light were thrown across the heavens, waxing and waning rapidly, falling into folds and curtains, spreading out into great arches and sometimes shooting vertical beams almost to the zenith. Sometimes, indeed often, the aurora hovered over Mount Erebus, attracted no doubt by this great isolated mass of rock, sometimes descending to the lower slopes and always giving us an interest that never failed"
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.65.42.172 (talk) 19:36, 25 February 2007 (UTC).
- I'm always wary of these old accounts. If you've read Columbus's accounts of his landing in the New World, you'll know what I mean. He described a land drowning in gold, where the Asian spices he was after were plentiful (though they didn't even exist in the Americas), and where there was a new variety of pepper, superior even to black pepper, which is so wholesome that the natives subsist entirely upon it. The same thing seems to be happening here: they seem to be connecting the Aurora to lightning. I don't know about the validity of the second account, though I will point out that, from what I've read, it's almost a cliche for these old accounts to involve people being overcome by awe, dropping to their knees, throwing aside their weapons, etc. I know I've read at least one example where some European records having walked among natives with a cross, whereupon the natives all fell to their knees and prayed, having been instantly converted. Those Canadians seem to have acted suspiciously similar. I don't know anything for sure, but my verdict is that the first account is a significant exaggeration, and the second is a slight one. But let's hear from an expert. Is it possible for an Aurora to sink low enough to hover around a mountain? Twilight Realm (talk) 21:59, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Many prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush believed that the Northern Lights were the reflection of the mother lode of all gold.
Really?Puddytang 07:48, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] first half of the introduction
has nothing to do with aurorae, instead talks about stupid midnight sun.. why? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.178.69.39 (talk) 05:46, 2 March 2007 (UTC).
I agree. It looks like someone added a high school science report to the beginning of the article. I'm going to remove it. --Boreas231 16:24, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
Also, what's with the football relations on the Inuit beliefs? I'm not sure on what to change it to, but it should be changed.
[edit] Inuits and football
In Inuit folklore, northern lights were the spirits of the dead playing football with human skulls over the sky. The Inuit also used the aurora to get their children home after dark by claiming that if you whistled in their presence they would come down and split their heads from their body to play football with it. Another version of this (Inuit)folklore is that the northern lights are the dead, and when someone dies they don't feel pain anymore. They tell stories of the dead playing soccer with a frozen walrus head. To get your ancestors too come closer you whistle, if they come too close click your nails
wtf? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 158.143.214.46 (talk) 19:30, 11 May 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Opening sentence fragment
Was first mentioned by Ancient Greek explorer - geographer Pytheas.
For some reason, this was the first "sentence" of the article. I moved it to a more appropriate place, but I'm not sure if it's in the best place, or if the current article even has a place for it.
Anyways, I just thought I'd explain my actions here, as I usually do to prevent unnecessary reverts. -- trlkly 07:13, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
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- I still think the lead paragraph needs a little definition of the fenomena, "What is an aurora Borealis?" in a few words. --Andersmusician VOTE 03:33, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Auroral events of historical significance
Event did happen according [Google Book's scan of the 1860 quote] it definitely wasn't OREGON's "Portland", because the First Transcontinental Telegraph didn't exist til 1861. Thus there could not be possibly a telegraph line between Boston, MA and Portland, OR. Since Portland, Maine was the obvious largest Portland of the time connected by telegraph to Boston, references to Portland of this day was obviously Portland, ME, not Portland, OR so I have edited this to reference to the prevailing Portland of the day. However, there are about 10 Portland's in USA. If someone can confirm which Portland was referenced, please do so. Mdrejhon 23:45, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Capitalization?
Is "Northern Lights" commonly capitalized? Robert K S 17:18, 28 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Northernlights125.jpg
Image:Northernlights125.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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BetacommandBot 05:02, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Astronomy?
Why "astronomy" is used for disambiguation? I see, auroras are on a sky but they have practically nothing to do with astronomy. Miraceti 10:37, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] what about the Inuit?
Please add more info about traditional Inuit beliefs, myths and stories about the northern lights.--Sonjaaa (talk) 22:57, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Movement?
Does the aurora move visibly? I have been wondering this for years. I have seen movies where the curtain moves around a lot, but I can't tell whether that's realtime or time-lapse footage. The best this article does is say that "active auroras" "evolve and change constantly." Can I have a more descriptive explanation? 72.75.19.54 (talk) 01:25, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
- I've seen them change. The speed is different for each segment (not surprising behavior for wild particle beams). To put a more precise rate in the article we need someone's description of changes. -- SEWilco (talk) 05:20, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
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[edit] TfD nomination of Template:Video
Template:Video has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment at Wikipedia:Templates_for_deletion#Template:Video the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Milo 02:47, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] aurora in film fiction
There is a fantasy auroral link in this film called Frequency (2000). Great twist involving time-travel :=) Pomona17 (talk) 13:49, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
