What was the aurora borealis named after

Modern Art and Beliefs Related to Aurora In , Maida Withers directed a new modern dance piece with an international cast that was inspired by the aurora see image left. There have been, and still are, many different beliefs about the aurora and its association with the spirit world. Stories come from the Northern reaches of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland telling of people's whistling bringing down the aurora to cut of the whistler's head, and of auroras as spirit ancestors to help hunters find their prey.

Skip to main content. Text Size. April 25, To read our privacy policy click here. We use cookies to help us provide a better service for you. By continuing to use this site you agree to the use of cookies. Click here for more information Got it! View Holidays. The Aurora Borealis named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas Is there anything more remarkable on this planet of ours than Mother Nature?

The Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora. Find out more The Science. Our Hunting Formula. Travel Website Development. Though it was Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei who coined the name "aurora borealis" in — after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas — the earliest suspected record of the northern lights is in a 30,year-old cave painting in France. Since that time, civilizations around the world have marveled at the celestial phenomenon, ascribing all sorts of origin myths to the dancing lights.

One North American Inuit legend suggests that the northern lights are spirits playing ball with a walrus head, while the Vikings thought the phenomenon was light reflecting off the armor of the Valkyrie, the supernatural maidens who brought warriors into the afterlife.

Early astronomers also mentioned the northern lights in their records. A royal astronomer under Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed his report of the phenomenon on a tablet dated to B. The science behind the northern lights wasn't theorized until the turn of the 20th century. Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland proposed that electrons emitted from sunspots produced the atmospheric lights after striking the Earth's magnetic field.

The theory would eventually prove correct, but not until long after Birkeland's death. At any given moment, the sun is ejecting charged particles from its corona, or upper atmosphere , creating what's called the solar wind. When that wind slams into Earth's ionosphere , or upper atmosphere, the aurora is born. In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called the northern lights aurora borealis , while in the Southern Hemisphere, it's called the southern lights aurora australis.

The bright colors of the northern lights are dictated by the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere. While solar wind is constant, the sun's emissions go through a roughly year cycle of activity. Sometimes there's a lull, but other times, there are vast storms that bombard Earth with extreme amounts of energy. This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent.

The last solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in , according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA , placing the next one in approximately