Do the Northern Lights roar?

They are otherworldly wonders, animated in the extreme but without animal spirit, a sensory experience beyond just the visual. They have been interpreted through the ages as omens, portents, signs and symbols. They are, however, quite natural: an interaction of particles and gases that produce images of poetic beauty.

From Life Magazine Special - "Strange But True: 100 of the World's Weirdest Wonders"
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Indeed, the northern lights are as natural as air. Massive discharges of hydrogen from the sun transform into a gas of energized electrons and protons, and this "plasma" travels through space on the solar wind. Within five days of departing the sun's realm, some of the plasma reaches earth. Grabbed by the planet's magnetic field and pulled downward toward the north and south magnetic poles, the charged particles interact with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen, and juiced-up ions are produced. Energy is thrown off, and on the planet's nightside (yes, there are southern lights, too), the various. wavelengths show them-selves in arcs and draperies of green, white, yellow, red and turquoise light.

The science is interesting; the mythology more so. Canadian Inuit legend held that a heavenly light was emitted via holes through which the dead could pass. Alaskan natives considered the lights evil, while East Greenland Eskimos thought they were the spirits of children who had died at birth. Some medieval Europeans felt the glow reflected deceased warriors, while others read warnings of plague or conflict. Throughout time, many cultures have seen the lights as some sort of game being played by the dead.

So, some things-we know to be true; some we know are fanciful—and some we're still not sure about. Numerous witnesses swear they hear the lights hiss, whistle or crackle. Are the electromagnetic waves being transduced into acoustic ones? But the lights are occur-ring so high in the sky—how could the sound get to us so quickly, so in sync, albeit roughly, with the much faster traveling visual performance?

To be continued.

From Life Magazine Special - "Strange But True: 100 of the World's Weirdest Wonders"

Purchase here!