10 Illuminating Facts About The Northern Lights


Some people have claimed being able to ‘hear’ this spectacle

The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomenon that is as fascinating as it is beautiful. One of the most stunning sights on our planet, the Northern Lights have more complexity to it than it may seem.

Here are some facts about the Northern spectacle.

1)   Aurora is the Roman goddess of the dawn and Boreas is the Greek term for the northern wind, thus the name Aurora Borealis.


2)   Italian astronomer and philosopher Galileo Galilei was the first to describe the phenomenon as Aurora Borealis in 1619.

3)   The phenomenon is caused by the collision of gas particles in the Earth’s atmosphere and charged particles from the Sun’s atmosphere. 


4)   No two light displays are the same; the colours and patterns always differ. 

5)   The International Space Station sits at the same altitude as the Northern Lights, and astronauts can see the lights from the sides of the station!


6)   The Northern Lights have being observed since 1619. There are several stories linked to them:
The Inuit believed the lights were spirits of their ancestors playing football, with a walrus skull being used as the ball. According to Finnish folklore, however, a mystical arctic fox is running in the north and touching the mountains with its fur, causing sparks to fly off into the sky.

7)   Scandinavia is one of the most popular areas for Northern Lights viewing; the phenomenon can also be seen in Canada, Scotland, Russia and Alaska (the USA).

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8)   Their southern counterpart, the Aurora Australis or the Southern Lights, also offers a similar visual display. Due to their location over places with not as much land mass, they aren’t as popular.

9)   Other planets, too, have their own auroras. Astronomers have witnessed the lights on Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter several times.


10)   Auroras tend to be more frequent and significantly spectacular during increasing levels of solar sunspot activity, which cycles over approximately 11 years. The last climax was in 2013.


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