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Aurora by Melanie Windridge6/27/2023 The science behind it is incredibly complex, the source of the energy comes from the solar wind and coronal ejections from our sun and the light is produced by the interaction between that and the trace elements in the upper atmosphere. This is a really nicely written book about the aurora. Also woven into the narrative is an exploration of the cultural effect that the light has had on the people that see them and how we have tried to replicate them and explain them before science. Her travels take her from Scotland to Iceland, then Canada and onto Svalbard, where she sees the magnificent total solar eclipse. As well as a clear explanation behind the science of the northern lights, Windridge head north to experience them for herself. Melanie Windridge’s work as a plasma physicist means that she is well placed to reveal all that has been learnt about the science behind these beautiful lights. However, it is only in the past few decades that we have become to understand how they are created. They have been known to humanity for millennia and have been a sense of wonder and inspired stories and myths of their creation. The haunting beautiful lights that hang in the skies of the northern hemisphere also have their south equivalent, the aurora australis. I don’t have a bucket list, (do have a bucket though), but one day I want to see the amazing natural phenomena that is the aurorae borealis.
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