Gutsch, William

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epublications@Marquette

Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 50 Article 25September 2016Adventures Under the Northern LightsWilliam GutschFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationGutsch, William (2016) "Adventures Under the Northern Lights," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 50 , Article 25.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol50/iss1/2542 CONVERSATIONS ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION                                                                                                                                          Adventures under theNorthern Lights1Gutsch: Adventures Under the Northern LightsPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2016                                                                                                                                                                                                               43Few phenomena in nature are as beautiful, intriguing and mesmer-izing as the northern lights. As a professor at Saint Peter’s University,a member of its Sustainability Council, and an astronomer and pho-tographer, I have long been fascinated with this phenomenon. In re-cent years, I have traveled with colleagues and led small groups tophotograph and study the lights from the pristine location of theNorwegian Arctic. The triggering mechanism for the aurora is the sun. While itmay look like the same quiescent yellow ball in the sky each day,the sun actually can be an “active” or even violent place pepperedon occasion with regions where sudden brightenings called flarescan occur. In turn, some of these flares can sometimes lead toeruptions of enormous numbers of charged particles out intospace at speeds of over one million miles per hour. Such “coronalmass ejections” as well as huge voids in the sun’s atmosphereknown as “coronal holes” enhance a flow of particles called thesolar wind that rapidly spreads out across the solar system and, attimes, targets the earth. Indeed, in its journeys about the sun, theearth may be thought of as swimming in the outer atmosphere ofthe sun.When such an enhancedstream of solar particles ar-rives at our planet a solar-ge-omagnetic storm occurs, asthey buffet the invisible forcefield that engulfs the earthknown as our magnetic field.The magnetic field, in turn,can channel these particlesfrom the sun (mostly elec-trons) at enormous speeds asthey spiral downward and ul-timately crash into the upperlevels of our atmospherecausing it to light up in thedazzling, dancing colors ofthe northern and southernlights. Indeed, the mechanismLeft: Aurora Borealis as seen over Grotfjord near Tromso, NorwayBelow: The radar dish is part of the EISCAT research facility forstudying the ionosphere outside of Tromso.All images are copyright © Dr. William Gutsch. By William Gutsch2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 50, Iss. 1 [2016], Art. 25http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol50/iss1/2544 CONVERSATIONS ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION                                                                                                                                          that causes our atmosphere to light up is thesame as that which causes so called “neonsigns” to glow brilliantly in bars and store win-dows at night. The oxygen and nitrogen in ouratmosphere light up in vivid shades of green,red and other colors which can take on a vari-ety of shapes including ribbons and curtainsthat seem to curl and flap like huge draperiesin a breeze. Such auroral curtains can stretchfrom 50 miles to as much as 300 miles aboveour heads.My particular interest in the aurora is thestudy of the correlation between minute-by-minute changes in the earth’s local magneticfield, as the onslaught of particles from a solarstorm buffet it, and the visible manifestationsAbove: Arctic DayLeft: The Northern Lights over Grotfjord near Tromso, NorwayAll images are copyright © Dr. William Gutsch. 3Gutsch: Adventures Under the Northern LightsPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2016                                                                                                                                                                                                               45Saint Peter’s University’s solar panels, and co-generation plant.Going Green at Saint Peter’s Universityof the amazing resulting light showswe see. Advances in cameras over thelast few years now permit us to recordimages of the aurora over the entiresky in near real time as well as moredetailed images with exposures of aslittle as a few seconds. We do this work around Tromso,Norway, not only because aurorasoccur there almost every night butalso because the University of Tromsomaintains a geophysical observatorynearby. Data from instruments knownas magnetometers provide insightinto what the earth’s magnetic field isdoing from minute to minute whileour cameras provide the high resolu-tion visual data. Images from earth-or-biting satellites give us additional,wider views from above. And, on a re-cent trip, in a cooperative effort, astro-nauts on board the InternationalSpace Station kindly shared imagesthat they took of the aurora duringflights over northern Europe while wephotographed it from the ground. In February, a few of us brave themid-winter Arctic cold to test newequipment during the long Arcticnights. But in the fall, we typically willtake a small group of photography en-thusiasts with us to experience thethrill of gazing upward and beingbathed in the glow of the northernlights. If you are interested in comingalong on possible future trips, pleasecontact me atwgutsch@saintpeters.edu. Dr. William Gutsch is Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts & Sciences at Saint Peter’s University. 4Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 50, Iss. 1 [2016], Art. 25http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol50/iss1/25

Adventures Under the Northern Lights

Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 49 Jesuit Higher Education in a GlobalContext Article 51September 2016Adventures Under the Northern LightsWilliam GutschFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationGutsch, William (2016) "Adventures Under the Northern Lights," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 49 , Article 51.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol49/iss1/5142 CONVERSATIONS ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION                                                                                                                                          Adventures under theNorthern Lights1Gutsch: Adventures Under the Northern LightsPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2016                                                                                                                                                                                                               43Few phenomena in nature are as beautiful, intriguing and mesmer-izing as the northern lights. As a professor at Saint Peter’s University,a member of its Sustainability Council, and an astronomer and pho-tographer, I have long been fascinated with this phenomenon. In re-cent years, I have traveled with colleagues and led small groups tophotograph and study the lights from the pristine location of theNorwegian Arctic. The triggering mechanism for the aurora is the sun. While itmay look like the same quiescent yellow ball in the sky each day,the sun actually can be an “active” or even violent place pepperedon occasion with regions where sudden brightenings called flarescan occur. In turn, some of these flares can sometimes lead toeruptions of enormous numbers of charged particles out intospace at speeds of over one million miles per hour. Such “coronalmass ejections” as well as huge voids in the sun’s atmosphereknown as “coronal holes” enhance a flow of particles called thesolar wind that rapidly spreads out across the solar system and, attimes, targets the earth. Indeed, in its journeys about the sun, theearth may be thought of as swimming in the outer atmosphere ofthe sun.When such an enhancedstream of solar particles ar-rives at our planet a solar-ge-omagnetic storm occurs, asthey buffet the invisible forcefield that engulfs the earthknown as our magnetic field.The magnetic field, in turn,can channel these particlesfrom the sun (mostly elec-trons) at enormous speeds asthey spiral downward and ul-timately crash into the upperlevels of our atmospherecausing it to light up in thedazzling, dancing colors ofthe northern and southernlights. Indeed, the mechanismLeft: Aurora Borealis as seen over Grotfjord near Tromso, NorwayBelow: The radar dish is part of the EISCAT research facility forstudying the ionosphere outside of Tromso.All images are copyright © Dr. William Gutsch. By William Gutsch2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 49, Iss. 1 [2016], Art. 51http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol49/iss1/5144 CONVERSATIONS ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION                                                                                                                                          that causes our atmosphere to light up is thesame as that which causes so called “neonsigns” to glow brilliantly in bars and store win-dows at night. The oxygen and nitrogen in ouratmosphere light up in vivid shades of green,red and other colors which can take on a vari-ety of shapes including ribbons and curtainsthat seem to curl and flap like huge draperiesin a breeze. Such auroral curtains can stretchfrom 50 miles to as much as 300 miles aboveour heads.My particular interest in the aurora is thestudy of the correlation between minute-by-minute changes in the earth’s local magneticfield, as the onslaught of particles from a solarstorm buffet it, and the visible manifestationsAbove: Arctic DayLeft: The Northern Lights over Grotfjord near Tromso, NorwayAll images are copyright © Dr. William Gutsch. 3Gutsch: Adventures Under the Northern LightsPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2016                                                                                                                                                                                                               45Saint Peter’s University’s solar panels, and co-generation plant.Going Green at Saint Peter’s Universityof the amazing resulting light showswe see. Advances in cameras over thelast few years now permit us to recordimages of the aurora over the entiresky in near real time as well as moredetailed images with exposures of aslittle as a few seconds. We do this work around Tromso,Norway, not only because aurorasoccur there almost every night butalso because the University of Tromsomaintains a geophysical observatorynearby. Data from instruments knownas magnetometers provide insightinto what the earth’s magnetic field isdoing from minute to minute whileour cameras provide the high resolu-tion visual data. Images from earth-or-biting satellites give us additional,wider views from above. And, on a re-cent trip, in a cooperative effort, astro-nauts on board the InternationalSpace Station kindly shared imagesthat they took of the aurora duringflights over northern Europe while wephotographed it from the ground. In February, a few of us brave themid-winter Arctic cold to test newequipment during the long Arcticnights. But in the fall, we typically willtake a small group of photography en-thusiasts with us to experience thethrill of gazing upward and beingbathed in the glow of the northernlights. If you are interested in comingalong on possible future trips, pleasecontact me atwgutsch@saintpeters.edu. Dr. William Gutsch is Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts & Sciences at Saint Peter’s University. 4Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 49, Iss. 1 [2016], Art. 51http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol49/iss1/51

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Adventures Under the Northern Lights

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