1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,680 The aurora borealis, or northern lights, is one of the most beautiful, natural-occurring 2 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,680 phenomena known to man. 3 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,640 These shimmering currents of light, which are normally seen near the Arctic Circle, 4 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:28,120 have intrigued and inspired observers for thousands of years. 5 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:33,400 Until the late 19th century, many still believed that the northern lights were driven by supernatural 6 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,360 means, rather than by natural means. 7 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,360 Although these old beliefs are intriguing, we now know that the auroras are actually 8 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:45,040 caused by energized particles colliding with the Earth's magnetosphere. 9 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,840 Until recently, the auroras had little direct impact on life here on Earth. 10 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,920 But with almost every person on the planet now relying on satellites and electricity 11 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:59,240 as part of their daily lives, the need to understand auroral activity has increased. 12 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,360 This is because those same particles that collide with the magnetosphere to create the 13 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:08,920 northern lights can also severely damage important satellites and cause outages in electrical 14 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,240 power grids around the world. 15 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:15,720 In an effort to better understand these events, NASA is using innovative technologies to learn 16 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,160 more about the northern lights and how they affect us here on Earth. 17 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:23,960 I spoke with NASA Goddard's Dr. Sten Odenwald here at the Andoya Rocket Range in Andenese, 18 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:26,160 Norway to find out more. 19 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,320 It's a very complicated process that leads to an aurora. 20 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:32,720 Once you see it, the whole process is sort of hidden from view. 21 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,720 You know, we understand a little bit about how the particles get from the outer parts 22 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:40,360 of the magnetic field of the Earth and into the atmosphere, but we don't see the details. 23 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,360 You know, how the particles go from one kind of a system into another, how they get boosted 24 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:45,360 in energy. 25 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,640 Even at this late stage, we don't exactly know what the particles are that produce the 26 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:50,640 aurora. 27 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,000 Tracking them from where they're produced and where they're energized all the way down 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,160 to the atmosphere is still something of a mystery. 29 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,600 And that's why we have satellite and rocket experiments that are trying to fill in those 30 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,280 missing pieces of the puzzle. 31 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,400 To understand why it is important to study the northern lights, we must first understand 32 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:08,880 how they work. 33 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:14,140 The sun is constantly emitting streams of electrically charged particles in all directions. 34 00:02:14,140 --> 00:02:17,940 This stream of charged particles is called the solar wind. 35 00:02:17,940 --> 00:02:23,140 Since the sun is 93 million miles away, it takes about three days for the particles to 36 00:02:23,140 --> 00:02:24,220 reach Earth. 37 00:02:24,220 --> 00:02:30,080 As the solar winds flow by the Earth, it causes a disturbance in the Earth's magnetosphere. 38 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:35,500 This disturbance energizes currents of particles, which are steered by magnetic forces towards 39 00:02:35,500 --> 00:02:37,420 the Earth's poles. 40 00:02:37,420 --> 00:02:42,720 These energized particles collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in our atmosphere, which 41 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,240 produce the colorful light that we see in the aurora. 42 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:51,800 Although beautiful to watch, these currents of particles are actually a form of electricity, 43 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,320 which can generate up to 800 gigawatts of electrical power. 44 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,880 This electrical energy flowing in the upper atmosphere can cause currents to flow in the 45 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:06,860 ground, producing disruptions in communication, electrical outages, and fuel leaks. 46 00:03:06,860 --> 00:03:11,560 The high energy particles flowing in space that often accompany these storms can also 47 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:17,440 hit satellites, damaging their sensitive electronics and creating false commands. 48 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,960 This can wreak havoc on television, pager, and other communication services here on Earth. 49 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,880 NASA researchers hope to find new ways to predict not only when these storms will hit 50 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,960 Earth, but also hope to find ways to reduce their destructive effects when they do. 51 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,420 What are some of the tools you use to study the Northern Lights? 52 00:03:36,420 --> 00:03:41,540 We have satellites that seem to be able to look at everything that goes on with a solar 53 00:03:41,540 --> 00:03:45,260 storm and the production of aurora, literally from cradle to grave. 54 00:03:45,260 --> 00:03:50,460 We have satellites that watch the solar surface for the big leaps of matter and energy. 55 00:03:50,460 --> 00:03:54,460 We've got satellites that look at the wind in between the planets to watch what that's 56 00:03:54,460 --> 00:03:55,460 doing. 57 00:03:55,460 --> 00:03:59,500 We also have satellites that are in tighter orbits to the Earth so that they can look 58 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:02,440 at the poles of the Earth and see the aurora happen. 59 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:06,400 They can also measure electric fields in space and magnetic fields in space, so they 60 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,920 can also see the invisible flows of particles around the Earth. 61 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:14,560 And then finally, we have rockets that go up into the aurora from the bottom at the 62 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,400 same time that the satellites are passing overhead, so we can kind of see the physics 63 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:23,400 in between, flows of particles inwards, and the rockets see the electrical fields that 64 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:28,480 are set up by these things, and we get this complete picture from rockets and satellite 65 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:29,480 observations. 66 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,360 So why is Norway such a popular place to study the Northern Lights? 67 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:38,840 It turns out that Norway is a place that's very favorably located to actually see the 68 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:40,960 aurora directly overhead. 69 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,880 So you can launch the rockets directly up very quickly to get into the aurora at the 70 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:45,880 time that they're changing. 71 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,760 Dr. Odenwald, how do you think NASA research is helping us better understand the aurora 72 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,040 and its impact on Earth? 73 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,160 Well, NASA's invested an awful lot of time and effort into providing scientists with 74 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:01,400 the technology and equipment they need to really make powerful and insightful discoveries 75 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,440 about how aurora work. 76 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:09,240 And that feeds into our knowledge of the environment that we live in in space, and how that affects 77 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,920 human technology, our billions of dollars of satellites that we have there, the health 78 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,440 of astronauts because of the energetic particles. 79 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:23,040 It all works together, and if we can deeply understand space weather effects with the 80 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,840 help of NASA technology, it's going to be much easier for us to operate in space, and 81 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:30,160 that's the direction that we want to go as a civilization.