Northern LIghts.

[loose nut]

You guys have missed the most salient point of all this............................Evan was wrong.

Hard to believe but there it is.

[darryl]

I live pretty much on the 49th parallel, roughly the border between the USA and Canada. Visiting my sister one day and something catches my eye. We're sitting in the living room, lights on and curtains closed. I'm thinking ok, it's lightning- or maybe one of the street lights is going on and off. I look out, and it's probably the brightest aurora I've ever seen. We seldom get to see any of it from here. No sounds though.

[aostling]

. . . Of course the odds are much better the further north one goes . . .

Which is why I am peeved that I never saw the Northern Lights when I lived in Barrow, Alaska, from mid-August to mid-November 1982. My "house" was two blocks from the shore of the Arctic Ocean. This was the view when I looked out my front door:


Doc Nickel lives way south of Barrow, near Anchorage I think. Maybe he has seen them.

[darryl]

I don't see why not. If there were no atmosphere, even at that height, there would be nothing to light up when the 'solar wind' passes by. By that logic, sound could travel down to the surface of the earth. Lightning produces sound, just of a different character. I would thing that electrical currents passing through rarified atmosphere would produce anything from hissing, crackling, swishing sounds, some sorts of buzzing, etc. Because of the height it's bound to be pretty weak- but that does raise a question- how close to earth can auroral effects come?

[mickeyf]

Evan jumped all over me and insisted it was impossible for them to make any sound because of the height they occur at

Which does make sense... but... apparently there is more to it. Interestingly, of the members of this forum who live in BC, Evan was probably the northernmost in addition to being into astronomy, and would have had more opportunities to see them first hand. A bit too far south here, often too cloudy, and too much light pollution.

[Willy]

I used to work outside a lot at night in the winter months and used to see some spectacular displays, even as far south as I am in the North Okanagan Valley (south central British Columbia). Of course the odds are much better the further north one goes and the displays there of course are more frequent and vivid.
Never heard them myself but have talked to more than one person that heard them.

We actually had a pretty decent event last night here locally. Unfortunately no personal photos, would have been nice as they were more vivid where I'm at since I live in an area with a dark sky.
I did manage to grab these shots from a local news source about 40 miles SW of my location. Even with all of the light pollution they still were worth a good look-see.
Always impressive.

[Dan Dubeau]

I haven't seen the northern lights since I was a kid, up in Sudbury. Didn't know they made noise either.

[Cuttings]

Apparently we had a pretty good display here in western Canada last night. I am too far south to see much any more.

[boslab]

My dad was stationed in the Orkney isles and outer Hebrides wartime, as a kid he told me he saw the lights dozens if not hundreds of times during the war, occasionally he said they sang?, I did not know what that meant, obviously they made a sound or a sound was present, can’t see why not there must be a phenomenal amount of energy up there, never seen them myself, perhaps one day or maybe I shouldn’t wish for a bloody big solar event, I’m told it is overdue and likely to be disruptive on a global scale
mark

[Dan Krager]

My first reaction to the lights generating sound was just that. The sound is generated and possibly not local to where the light is. Now, I know nothing about Northern Lights so it's pure speculation. Thinking that the lights occur when radiation from the sun strikes the high atmosphere, I wonder how sound could even be generated in that rarefied air. But suppose that it's not the light generating the sound but the radiation striking the more dense air at a lower altitude. ???? It's a fascinating curiosity.
DanK

[Cuttings]

I can confirm that the northern lights sometime make sounds. About 50 years ago I was working in northern British Columbia and when the northern lights were particularly strong you could here a sound from them providing you were in a very quiet place.

[Arcane]

A long time ago I was describing how the northern lights looked when I was up north in the Yukon and I mentioned the sound they made. Evan jumped all over me and insisted it was impossible for them to make any sound because of the height they occur at and basically called me a fool for thinking they made any sounds but it looks like its been proven they do make audible sounds.

https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/do-the-northern-lights-make-sounds-that-you-can-hear/

BTW....they looked fantastic!