Aurora Borealis 2

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of dead relatives, dancing around in the sky, while the Vikings believed that they were caused by a fire on the edge of the world. In the fourteenth century, Aristotle described the auroras as jumping goats caused by the earth=s vapours being set on fire by meteors. Later on, in 1707, a Norwegian physicist claimed that they were caused by steam and smoke that escaped from a heat source beneath Greenland. It was not until the late 1950's that scientists finally discovered the true cause of the aurorasC Solar Wind.
Solar Wind
Approximately every eleven years, explosions erupt from sun spots creating what are called Solar Flares. These flares can extend tens of thousands of kilometres high and reach temperatures of 20 million degrees Celcius. They also propel Solar Wind, which is a stream of radiation and plasmaC a spray of charged particles. This solar wind, which can travel through space at 1-3 million km/h, approaches and threatens earth two to three days after leaving the ...

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