Post 2 - The Aurora

The Aurora. It dances, shimmers, and scintillates. It moves in a way that leads you to believe that it just might be alive. In fact, there are numerous myths and legends from societies who live under the shimmering lights to that effect. As is rarely the case, however, the reality is perhaps more captivating than the stories.

You see, the Sun, giver and sustainer of life on the Earth though it is, is quite dangerous to us even at our distance of 150 million kilometers. It is constantly ejecting particles which, at their best, would make us ill over time and disrupt the life below us on the food chain and, at their worst, would simply kill us. What we see when the Aurora dances across the sky is the Earth's last line of defense in its battle to protect us from the excesses of the Sun. The particles that make it through the Earth's outer defenses slam into the Earth's atmosphere, causing the gases there to emit a glow. The Aurora, then, is both a symbolic and an actual manifestation of the earth's protection of us and all the creatures with which we share this planet. This knowledge of the Aurora’s role is perhaps the only thing that could enhance the visual beauty of the Aurora.

The beauty in the dancing lights belies the violence of the invisible struggle that rages in Earth’s outer defenses against the Sun’s onslaught. The Earth’s magnetic field forms a shield against the solar bombardment. Without this, the particles from the sun would not only hit us constantly, but would also strip away Earth’s atmosphere. This is exactly what scientists think happened to Mars’s atmosphere. Thankfully, the Earth’s magnetic field deflects most of the particles. However, the magnetic field is not constant, and there are almost always some field lines that are snapping and reconnecting. This is when the particles get through to slam into the atmosphere and create the Aurora. There are numerous visualizations of this online, one of which can be found on Nasa's Website. These visualizations give the impression that the Earth is fighting with all its might to withstand the constant stream of solar particles and that all the Earth’s might is just enough. Contemplating this struggle, I feel a sense of awe, both at the Sun’s overwhelming might, as well as at the Earth’s strength to withstand it.

The Aurora and the Earth’s magnetic battle against the Sun show us a thing or two about the world in which we live and about ourselves. First, it becomes clear that the life-sustaining conditions on Earth are fragile, which means that our lives are fragile. To be alive is to have won some kind of long-odds cosmic lottery. Life, even if it turns out to be common in the universe, is so ridiculously unlikely that I find myself wonderstruck at the mere fact of our existence. I feel the privilege of just being. I’m much less inclined to take the Earth’s defense of that privilege for granted.

Second, there can be beauty even in danger, and there can be danger even in beauty. The Aurora is a signature of the Sun’s assault on Earth, yet it is one of the most beautiful phenomena we can hope to lay eyes on. Pursuit of beauty in this world can require braving discomfort or, sometimes, real physical danger. In my case, it meant only braving the cold of Northern Norway in the winter. Other beauty is so profound as to warrant actual courage against real danger. Either way, if we would experience beauty, we must be prepared to match it with the courage required.