WEBVTT - How the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis Work 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:14.000 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:19.120 There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, and Jerry's over there. So 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:24.080 this is Stuff you Should Know the podcast. Uh, we 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:28.480 want to give before we get started, a big congratulations 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:33.279 to our newest colleagues, Emily and Bridget with the official 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.839 relaunch of stuff Mom never told you, Yeah, Chuck. They 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.479 just debuted last week, I believe, and they come out 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:46.479 Wednesdays and Fridays. Huh yeah, so Monday, Tuesday, well, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.000 the four of us have you covered? Yeah, it's true. 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:51.479 Do we have any shows that come out on Monday? 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.360 We do? All right, Well, Jerry's nodding, so that means 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:56.480 we've got you covered every day of the week. Let's 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:01.320 just say that. Nice. That's the How Stuff Works way. Yeah. Yeah, anyway, 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.160 just congratulations to them. That's awesome. I know that they've 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:08.120 been running classic episodes while they were down and getting restarted, 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.200 and uh it's no small thing to come in and 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.640 take a show over. But they're doing an awesome job 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.720 and are both uh great broadcasters. And you know, I'm 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:23.720 I'm in support of them. Yeah, that's my official position. 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.680 I know that sounded weirdly political. Yeah, good luck and 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.200 best twishes to Bridget and Emily. So you guys go 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.839 check it out Wednesdays and Fridays anywhere you get podcasts. 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.920 You can get stuff Mom never told you. Yes, and apologize. 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.120 I apologize for my voice. Oh yeah, what's up with 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.080 your voice? Man? I've just had this upper respiratory thing 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.919 that won't go away, that stinks, and so unless I'm 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.440 constantly wetting my throat, it gets weirdly deep and cracky. 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.520 So are you paying a lot more than usual? Well, 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:55.240 I'm drinking a lot of water. I'm peeing a lot, 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.480 but I would literally have to drink between every sentence 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.800 to keep it silky smooth. Oh do you want to 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.800 record today? No, I'm fine. I'm not in pain, but 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:06.920 I just don't want anyone's ears to be in pain. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.680 Have you heard of um? Oh? Man, now that I 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.600 say it, I realized I don't know the name of 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.000 the brand. But you know those like cough drops that 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.680 are actually like candy, but they market them as cough drops, 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:24.519 the cherry flavored ones. M No, I mean like they're 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:31.079 literal candy. Um no, but it's basically the most delicious 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.040 jolly rancher you've ever had. It lacks the sour, it's 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:38.760 all sweet. So it's green apple. No, they're red. I 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.000 can't remember what they're called. People are screaming at their um. Yeah, 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:47.839 well their phones, their tablets, their computers. Right now, settled down, everybody, Yes, 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.320 we chuck and I agree with you. This is maybe 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.919 the worst intro we've ever done. And Jerry does too. 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.720 So let's get to it, shall we. So we're talking 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:02.919 aurora's today. Yeah, and generally we're talking about the two 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.480 most famous auroras. Uh And I say too, because I 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.320 don't even want to give I don't want to short 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:14.880 change the Aurora Australis. No, it definitely does get short changed, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.800 though totally. Did you Did you come upon why? I 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.800 came upon the explanation a couple of times? Oh about why? Yeah? 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.120 Uh I didn't. But I'm gonna have a guess. Okay, 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.600 let's have it. Is it not quite as magnificent? Nope? 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.080 Are there not as many people there? Yes? There you go, 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:38.000 There are fewer. There's there's less land around the South 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.920 Pole as there is around the North Pole. Um, I 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.200 should say the magnetic South and North pole. Um. So 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.920 there's fewer eyes to see it, so the grandeur of 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.960 it is is um less obvious too as many people. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.280 But yeah, that's that's why the Northern Lights get all 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.000 the all the top billing. Plus, no one ever named 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.480 a strain of weed after the Aurora Australis out about 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.920 that too. Southern Lights, what is that? I bet you 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.600 there's one. There's a poison. There a like a head 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.160 shop in Atlanta called Southern Lights. I think it's a bookstore. 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.440 Oh got it? Wink wink. Oh yeah, but where you 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:21.160 can where you can buy rush and spice books. Well, 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:25.200 I I don't understand. I'm just kidding. Let's see. Is 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:27.800 that like a code for something? Well, I thought you 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:31.520 were giving me the code, Chuck. I think it's a 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:37.080 real bookstore, gardening books. This is the most confused I've 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.000 ever been on this show. Like we're on a cell 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.080 phone and have to keep things, you know, straight up? 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.320 All right, all right, let's get back to it. I 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:51.880 don't want to confuse you so Auroras, because I want 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:56.000 to make sure that you is uh comes through Um 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.800 the the there are two and Chuck apparently until very 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.080 re cerently. It was assumed because people couldn't see him 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:07.200 at the same time, but it was assumed that there 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:12.800 the northern lights that you were seeing the Aurora borealis. Um, 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:17.479 if you could simultaneously see the Aurora Australias, you would 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.040 be seeing a mirror image of one another. And they 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.640 recently found out that that's absolutely not true at all. 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.800 They finally got someone down there to look some some 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.800 poor sap had to run. He's like, no, it's it's 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.040 way way too different. It's not the same. I don't 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.200 exactly know how they do it. They must have observed 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.599 it from space, but they saw They are convinced now 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.359 that it's not a mirror image any longer. Um. But 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.240 this is it's not that surprising that they're just now 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.839 kind of um figuring that out, because it wasn't until 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.400 too terribly long ago that people thought the aurora was 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.560 things like a giant camp fire on the other side 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:01.520 of the ocean being reflected in the sky or um uh, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.160 you know, like the sun's rays peeking up from under 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.560 the earth where it was day when it was night 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.200 where you were. Um. There's been a lot of explanations, 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.839 some of them goofier than others. Um, But it wasn't 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.359 until I think the nineteenth century that we really figured 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.480 out what was going on. And it was a dude 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.760 in Norway, appropriately enough, because Norway is a good place 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.240 to see the Northern Lights. Yeah. I mean they've been 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:29.160 around obviously, since there have been people to watch them, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.920 since ancient times, people have been observing them. But like 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.320 you said, when you know, when you're talking about indigenous 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.719 peoples and vikings and things, they're gonna have, uh, you know, 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.920 they had a more limited understanding of science, so they 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:45.039 had all these uh, fanciful descriptions of what they might be. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.359 But um, are you talking about the first person to 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.960 use the term are you talking about? No? Actually I 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.000 jumped past him and he definitely deserves pop, so let's 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:01.080 talk about him. Yeah, Pierre Pierre Gasindi or Galileo and 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.680 Galileo Galilee apparently at the same around the same time, 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:11.200 both witnessed the September twelfth, nine sixty one display, and um, 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.560 both kind of you know, put it in their own 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.680 words how wonderful it was. But it wasn't until I 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:22.840 believe you were talking about eighteen physicist name Christian Birkeland 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.320 in Norway. Yeah, I think it was sixteen sixty one. 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:34.520 What did I say, Oh man, Yeah, okay, And they 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.560 saw it on Yeah, they saw it on the same night, right, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.760 and they both went out and I don't think they 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.640 were having a conversation and then both ran out to 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.480 write it down. It seems like they simultaneously came up 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.400 with this idea at the same time from seeing it 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.480 on the same date. Is that is that correct? Yeah? 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:57.560 I think they both saw the same uh fantastic display 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.920 on the same night, but they both came up with 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:05.760 the same idea to name it Aurora Borealis. Oh. Well, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.400 that I don't know. They share credit, which to me 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.960 means they probably don't know right and would just feel 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.840 bad giving it to one of them. Yeah, because history 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.080 has riddled with that kind of thing where you know, 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.160 everybody says, oh no, it was really Alexander Graham Bell 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.400 and Elijah Gray. There's definitely no winner in that. Or 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.960 maybe one of them said I say, Aurora, you say, 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.200 and he went Borealis and they had got a little 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.559 chant going. It was like a Beastie Boys concert. Yeah, exactly, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:39.520 so they it was that the what was the Norwegian 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:44.040 scientists who Kidistian Berkeland. So they were already called the 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.800 Northern Lights from at least the Renaissance on um or 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.400 I guess that would be pre Renaissance, didn't Galileo helped 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.199 kick off the Renaissance. I think he cut the ribbon. 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:59.320 So um, Christian Berkeland he was the one who he 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:04.040 came up with the modern interpretation of what the auroras are. Yeah, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.520 he was pretty right too, I agree, like he just 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.120 I don't know if he just pulled this one out 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.880 of his hat or what, but he definitely he he 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:18.200 decided that what the aurora auroras are aurora Apparently you 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.520 put it a E on the end, and that's how 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:25.200 you pluralize it. When um, he figured out that they 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:30.040 have something to do with electrons in outer space interacting 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:34.760 with the magnetosphere around Earth. And it turns out he 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.000 was absolutely right. Yeah, he recreated this in a vacuum 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:43.680 chamber successfully, but he wasn't a percent right he I 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.840 think he said that, um, and we'll get to this later, 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.680 but the Aurora borealis and auroras in general are have 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:55.400 a characteristic shape, which is an oval ring. And he 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:59.280 did not know this at the time, because he thought 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.680 that these electrons were coming from the sun, which is 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.480 not quite true. No, no, it's not. It's a little 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.600 more complex than that. Like, his interpretation of the whole 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.680 thing was pretty seemed to be correct, and you actually 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.760 run into it here there. I saw it on a 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.200 couple of pretty respectable sites that were basically giving the 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:23.200 Berkeland interpretation of aurora um phenomenon. But it turns out 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.880 there's an extra step in there that he didn't account for. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.920 So do you want to talk about the magnetosphere real quick? Well, 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.520 I think quickly that we should shout out one more researcher. Uh. 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.559 And this was nineteen sixty four. There was a grad 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:38.839 student in Japan name Uh, Well you want to you 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.319 always take our Japanese you want to do that one? Uh? 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:45.600 Shoon Ichi Aka Sofu, very nice, thank you. Uh. And 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.559 he actually in nineteen sixty four saw these photos, examined them, 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:53.600 examined them closely, and notice that they were rings. And 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:55.439 I believe that he was the first one to say, hey, 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.679 these things are oval. I think he actually predicted them 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.040 that they would be oval mathematically without even observing him. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.400 And then then yeah, then once we started going into 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.480 space and looking at from satellites. They said, yep, aka 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:16.120 Sofu was right through math dude. He was like, nope, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.880 it'll be a ring. And it turns out he's right 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.360 and the the the So what you're seeing with the 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:26.640 northern lights and the southern lights, um are actually connections 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.800 toward ovals that go around the North pole and the 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:36.000 South pole. And what what it is again, it's it's particles, 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:41.800 highly charged particles from out of space interacting with the magnetosphere. Yeah. 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.920 So so you're ready to talk about the magnetosphere. So 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.760 the this is kind of astounding to me. We're not 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.800 entirely certain why the Earth has a magnetic field from 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.440 what I can tell. Did you know that? Yeah, I 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.439 mean they have their idea, but um, they're not positive right. 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:07.520 That astounds me. Um Supposedly from the rotation of molten 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:12.280 iron in the outer core inside the Earth, UM that 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:17.640 generates this electrical field that surrounds the Earth, the magnetosphere. 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.440 That's the current hypothesis. It's probably right, but the fact 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:25.320 that we don't know exactly what creates the magnetosphere around 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:30.440 the Earth is just weird to me. Yeah, I'm with 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:34.760 you there, So what with this whatever is causing it. 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.440 We know that there's a magnetic shield basically around Earth. 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.600 That's that is probably caused by that that iron rotating 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.400 inside the Earth. And this magnetic shield has helped preserve Earth, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.240 like we would not be here if the magnetosphere wasn't there. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.720 The atmosphere probably wouldn't be around Earth if the magnetosphere 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:58.600 wasn't there. It protects us from bursts of radiation of 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:04.040 highly charged um ions and and particles that are blasted 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.720 out from the Sun and are just traveling throughout the 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.880 Solar System from other stars and we're bombarded. Earth is 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:15.800 bombarded by the stuff constantly, and Um, the magnetosphere acts 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:26.440 to actually um deflect most of it, a lot of it. Yeah, 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.599 we need the magnetosphere. So we've got this thing surrounding 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.880 us and and it's great. It keeps us alive. But 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:39.600 it also creates the basis for um for Aurora aurora. Yes, 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:43.960 all right, so how this happens, um, It sounds kind 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:48.319 of complicated, but it's really not. When you look at it. UM, Like, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.120 like you said, there's the Sun is like this big 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.440 ball of gas. It constantly spits out and burps out 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.280 all kinds of things in the form of energy and 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:04.520 um radiation and what's called the solar wind, solar flares, 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.840 coronal mass ejections. Uh. And we talked about all of 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.280 this in various episodes, but notably our terrible episode on 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.280 the Sun, our legendary episode. Anything that has anything remotely 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.480 to do with the Sun is usually a poor episode 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.880 for us. Uh. And, like you said, most of the 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.120 time these things get deflected, but sometimes some of the 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:30.040 stuff gets trapped in the magnetosphere, right, well, or so 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.480 this stuff that's being spit out from the Sun, it's 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.960 it's a lot of it's plasma, right, which is the 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.760 fourth state of matter. And that's like highly charged particles 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.880 that hit the magnetosphere. And when they hit the magnetosphere, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.880 they basically transfer their current to the magnetosphere. They produced 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.120 an electrical charge in it. That's right, And all kinds 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.280 of fun stuff happens once that happens. And so what, well, 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:59.560 this is where the Berkland interpretation basically kind of starts 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.200 to diver It's right. So Berkland's idea was those particles 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.760 travel through the magnets for down the field lines of 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:14.280 the Earth's magnetic field and um. They directly create the 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.920 um the aurora. Yeah, Like if you looked at if 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.120 you could see the magnetic field around the Earth, it 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.080 would have a big, long whiskey tail sort of like 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.280 it would sort of look like a comet surrounding the 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.440 Earth and these magnetic lines that it travels. Once it 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.520 hits those field lines, it goes along that that path 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.640 on the northern and southern poles, right, so down that 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.200 tail and if you if you so, the reason that 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.840 it has that tail. On the one side, it's squished 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.560 and the the it's it goes it's about six to 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.720 eight earth radii outside of the Earth, in between the 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.040 Earth and the Sun, but it's being pressed up against 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.120 the Earth, threats being squished on the sun side. On 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.800 the night side, that tail is being formed, and apparently 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.480 that's extraordinarily long. It goes well well past the Moon, 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:08.240 something like up to a thousand earth radii past the 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.280 Earth on the other side. Right, But if there wasn't 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.080 solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere just formed, I think 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.920 it's natural shape and there was no pressure from the 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:19.960 solar wind on it. What you would see if you 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.640 were looking at it from outer space is so the 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:26.520 Earth is a dipole magnet You've got the positive in 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:30.000 the negative one on each pole. Right, it would look 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.480 like the Earth's magnetosphere would look like an eight on 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.760 its side to where the top of the eight was 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.480 coming out the left side of the Earth and the 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.800 bottom of the eighth would be coming off of the 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.480 right side. There and where they came together would be 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:50.600 Earth's magnetic poles. And where those the magnetosphere comes in 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.680 contact with the Earth at the poles are what it 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:58.160 called the polar cusps. And apparently this is basically a 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:02.440 direct pipeline, a funnel for particles to go right toward 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:06.440 the polls. And that's why particles tend to accumulate, or 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.280 the northern lights tend to um accumulate and be seen 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.240 every night at these poles in rings, because they're being 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.159 funneled there by the magnetosphere. Yeah, it's like when uh 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.560 in the original Star Wars and New Hope when Luke 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.639 fires at the end toward the Death Star and it 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:23.480 and he gets sucked in that little hole that's like 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:27.440 the polar cusp of the Death Star. That is a 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:32.119 great analogy. So let's take a break, shall we. I'm 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.520 hanging on here by my fingernails, and I need to 0:17:34.720 --> 0:18:01.359 regain myself. I think they call this a cliffhanger. All right, 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.080 so we're back to describe the second part of how 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.240 this works. Yes, and more. Uh So, when this charge 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:14.159 it's cutting across this magnetic field, following those lines toward 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:20.240 the it's actually called the magnet magneto tail. I can't 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.359 believe they actually named it that. It's great. Uh And 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:25.960 like you said from the beginning, it generates this electric 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.840 current and as it goes it generates more and more currents, 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.880 just sort of building up current until it hits the ionosphere. Right, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.679 So here's this really important step, right, And berklen knew this. 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:39.840 He he guessed this, but he we'll we'll explain what 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.200 you got wrong after we explain what's right. How about that? So, 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:50.720 when um, these particles charge the magnetosphere, there's particles that 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:56.080 are already trapped in the the magnetosphere already, right, And 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.840 when solar winds and plasma and these highly charged particles 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.800 hit the magnetosphere and electrify it, it kind of shakes 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:08.480 loose these trapped particles, right. Yeah, Well, these trapped particles 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.240 are ions, meaning they have either an extra electron or 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.120 they're missing an electron, but either way they're not neutral. 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.040 They have a charge positive or negative charge. And those 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.320 things go careening through the magnetosphere toward Earth, down through 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.480 the atmosphere, and when they hit the atmosphere, they start 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:30.560 interacting with some of the atoms and molecules, specifically oxygen 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:34.879 and nitrogen in the Earth's atmosphere. And when they do, baby, 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:39.159 they release photons. That's right, And that that outer region, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.000 the ionospheres where most of that oxygen and nitrogen is 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.760 and uh, you're right. They get together and have a 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:48.040 little bit of a party. They exchange some energy with 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.040 one another, uh, get to know one another a little bit. 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.240 And that absorption of energy by the oxygen and nitrogen 0:19:56.280 --> 0:20:01.200 ions it gets those electrons, it gets their electrons excite it, right, 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.600 So they the um oxygen and nitrogen they have like uh, 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.040 they have electrons orbiting them, right, But they're just in 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.280 this low level orbit. It's like a whatever kind of energy, right, 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.760 it's a it's a party that hasn't started yet. It 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.080 is this is kind of hanging out. Maybe the pizza 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.639 hasn't arrived yet. Um, that kind of thing. So the 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.520 when the when the ions arrived though, they're bringing the pizza, 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.160 and then some they're bringing the northern lights with them, right, Um, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.399 and they they get the party started, those electrons in 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.800 the lower orbit suddenly move up to a larger orbit 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.960 further out. And when that happens, energy has been gained. Right. Yeah, 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.840 that's called a high energy orbital Okay, So when that happens, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:50.679 it's basically destined to come back to its lower energy orbit. Right. 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.680 The party has got to end at some point because 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.320 to get tired, they need to go home. The Sun's 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.040 coming up, that kind of thing. So either by it 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:03.640 changes in the vacuum state or because of the application 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:08.120 of an external electrical field that orbit, that electron goes 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.960 back to its original lower orbit. When it does, since 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.960 it's gained energy, and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Um, 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.880 that has to go somewhere, And it goes somewhere by 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:23.320 the production or the emission I should say, of a photon, 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.240 a packet of light. So light is emitted when that 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.439 electron goes back down to its lower or after the 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.760 party's over, that's right. And because oxygen ions radiate red 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.680 and yellow light, nitrogen ions radiate red, blue, and violet light. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:41.800 Depending on where you are, This can happen at different 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:47.320 UM I guess different altitudes. UH blue and violet UM 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:51.399 generally less than seventy two miles kilometers, green is going 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:58.000 to be sight milesight kilometers, and then redh more than 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.480 a hundred eight miles, which is about a hundred and 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.800 eighty kilometers, So that accounts for the different colors. If 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:05.280 you look up or if you've ever been lucky enough 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:10.159 to see one of the auroras um, either the Australias 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:13.680 or Borealis, you're gonna see My favorite is the green, 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.959 but you're gonna see all kinds of um, blue, green, violet, 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:21.560 and red lights. Well, and apparently the green just confounded 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:25.520 scientists because they're like, wait, so, yeah, oxygen radiates red 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:29.040 and yellow light. That's that's great. Nitrogen is is red, 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.120 blue and violet. Got that, But where is this green 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:36.080 coming from? They couldn't link at any particular atom or molecule, 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.440 and then they realized that it has to do with 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:43.840 the rarefied air in the upper upper atmosphere, that the 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:46.560 the conditions found up there are not going to be 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:50.080 found anywhere else on Earth. UM and that it's actually 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.720 it is oxygen atoms and oxygen molecules producing the green. 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.639 You just wouldn't see it anywhere else but specifically up 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:59.959 in the upper atmosphere. Yeah, well it's oxygen and nitrogen 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:02.520 doesn't have something to do with it. I saw it 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.360 was just oxygen emitting the green, Okay, but the I mean, yes, 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:11.520 nitrogen produces some of the other colors. Yeah. So, uh, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:13.440 if you're watching these, if you're one of the people, 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.280 they very in brightness, you know they can right now. 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:19.040 And actually for a while now, we've been in a 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:23.640 pretty low uh what's it called the solar cycle. Yeah, 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:25.600 we've been in a kind of a bummer of a 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.040 solar cycle for a while now, and these auroras haven't 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.480 been nearly as spectacular as they have been in years 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:34.920 past because of that. I think they peaked in two 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:38.240 thousand and twelve, but even that that was a solar 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:41.160 maximum that when it peaked and it started to decline. 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:44.719 So solar cycle happens every eleven years, and we're starting 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.560 up our twenty third one now. Um, but this past one, 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:52.120 the twenty second one, was like the lowest in a century. 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:53.879 It was the weakest one in a cential. Yeah, the 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:57.320 weakest maximum even but even still weren't there. Couldn't you 0:23:57.320 --> 0:23:59.679 see northern lights once in a while, like fairly far 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:03.560 a few years back. I don't remember. I stily here. 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:06.119 You can see it in or that at times, you 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:08.040 can see them in the southern United States, but I 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.320 don't remember seeing them ever. I don't either, And supposedly 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:14.880 there was a date in either or nine nine where 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:18.399 they were visible from Cuba that they were that far south. 0:24:18.640 --> 0:24:21.360 That might be as far south as has ever been recorded. Actually, 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:25.520 but normally you can see them the closer to the 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:29.720 poles you are, so specifically, uh, in the North Pole 0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:32.320 or South Pole, the Arctic or Antarctica, you can see 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:36.240 them basically every night. Um, there are specific conditions to 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:40.480 where they're more brilliant than others. Right, So, um, if 0:24:40.480 --> 0:24:42.879 you're looking for what did you say, if people watch them, 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:47.120 they um they put them into categories one through four. Yeah. 0:24:47.280 --> 0:24:50.480 I didn't say that yet, but uh yeah zero up 0:24:50.480 --> 0:24:54.120 through four from barely can see it. Two Holy cow, 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:58.000 that's amazing, right, So if you're looking for the Holy Cow, 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:02.240 that's amazing. Four. Um, you would go looking on a 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:08.200 moonless night where there's no clouds where it's super super cold, 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:13.480 and maybe October or February or March. Yeah, I saw it. Also, Um, 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:17.199 winter is the best time to see him, winter in 0:25:17.280 --> 0:25:21.640 the north and winter in the south. Oh yeah, yeah, alright, 0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:24.320