Northern lights moving south, study shows

The northern lights are shifting south from the Arctic, and will appear more often in the skies over Ottawa in decades to come, a new study says.

The reason: Earth’s magnetic field is becoming gradually weaker, and this affects how the solar wind — charged particles from the sun — bounces off it.

In time, the aurora could reach as far as the southern United States.

“The Earth’s magnetic field more or less keeps the solar wind at bay, and it’s the solar wind interacting with the field that contributes to the auroras,” said Dennis Kent, an expert in paleomagnetism at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

“With a strong field, that interaction is pushed to high latitudes. With a weaker field more of the Earth is bathed in these charged particles.

“So a consequence would be that the aurora would be visible at lower latitudes.” The same is expected with the southern lights.

Kent does not count on living long enough to see the changes, “but I expect my grandson will. He’s six.”

Read more @ http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/northern-lights-moving-south-study-shows


"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~