Dancing Lights Auroras have been emitting in our skies and those of other planets for as long as the solar system has been in motion. In 1619 AD, Galileo coined the term “aurora borealis” in homage to Aurora, the Roman goddess of the morning. He mistakenly thought that the auroras he saw were due to sunlight reflected from the atmosphere. (Angelopoulos, 2008). In 1741, Hiorter and Celsius noted that polar auroras are accompanied by a disturbance of the magnetic needle. In 1820, Hans Christian Oersted discovered electromagnetism. André-Marie Ampère deduced that magnetism is essentially the force between electric currents. In 1851, Samuel Schwabe, a German amateur astronomer, announced the discovery of the 11-year sunspot cycle, and in 1859, Richard Carrington in England observed a violent and rapid eruption near a sunspot; 17 hours later, a major magnetic storm broke out. In 1900-1903, Kristian Birkeland experimented with electron beams directed towards a magnetized sphere (“terrella”) in a vacuum chamber. The electrons strike near the magnetic poles, leading him to propose that polar auroras are created by beams of electrons from the Sun. Birkeland also observed magnetic disturbances associated with auroras, which suggested the existence of “polar magnetic storms” located in the auroral zone. In 1958, Eugene Parker (Chicago) proposed the theory of the solar wind. 1981, High resolution images are obtained by Lou Frank's group in Iowa of the entire auroral zone, using the Dynamics Explorer satellite. (Stern & Peredo, 2005) This is the primary timeline of how the aurora was discovered and understood. Now that the history is covered, I can get into the nitty-gritty of how they can appear in the sky. Auroras are caused by the collision of the middle of a sheet of paper......edaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724150341.htmStern, D., Peredo, M. (December 25, 2005) Some dates in exploration of the magnetosphere. Retrieved from: http://http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/whchron2.htmlFeldstein, YI (November 20, 2013) “Some issues regarding aurora morphology and magnetic disturbances at high latitudes. » retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)Weber, EJ et al. (November 20, 2013) “F-layer ionization patches in the polar cap.” extracted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)Mottelay, FP, (November 20, 2013) Bibliographic history of electricity and magnetism, p 114. extracted from: http://en. wikipedia. .org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)Zell, H. (September 30, 2013) About the Auroras retrieved from: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/aurora-index.html#. UpJsssSsiSo