Wednesday 1 February 2012

The Northern Lights

Hello for our videos of the month of February!

As some of you probably know, the 24th of January brought us a wonderful present in the form of a coronal mass ejection, which makes northern lights more common. A good moment to take all your savings and head to the Arctic Circle to enjoy one of the wonders of nature!

This video is a preview of the BBC series Wonders of the Solar System, with Professor Brian Cox (of whom I am an alleged fan). So here you have Brian Cox looking up into the skies again...

Questions (answers in the comments, transcription coming in a few days):

1. Why did they go to the Arctic Circle on snowmobiles?
2. How likely is it for them to watch an aurora that night?
3. Where are the film images taken from?
4. What does the energy from the solar wind do?
5. How does Prof. Brian Cox describe the aurora?


Enjoy it! The beauty of the night sky again... Magical.

Update: the full transcript of this video.