Let There Be Lights

With its brilliant colors of blue, green, pink, yellow, and violet, the aurora borealis is nature’s spectacular light show. The northern lights are visible at high latitudes around the world, especially near the Arctic Circle, in places such as Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Norway.

Scientists have long theorized about the showstopping light phenomenon. The most popular theory proposed that disturbances on the sun release a stream of electrons and protons, called solar wind. Electromagnetic waves, called Alfvén waves, transfer energy to the electrons and protons and accelerate their journey toward earth. As the particles hurtle through earth’s magnetic field at speeds of up to 45 million miles per hour, they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the ionosphere (the upper atmosphere), creating the dazzling light show we know as an aurora.

Until now, scientists hadn’t confirmed that electrons gain energy from Alfvén waves to travel at such high speeds into earth’s atmosphere. But in a new study, researchers simulated the conditions that produce an aurora inside a nearly 66-foot-long vacuum chamber. Measurements revealed that Alfvén waves do indeed accelerate the electrons and protons, similar to how a bird in flight rides an air current.

While we continue to make illuminating discoveries about God’s creation, plenty of mysteries remain. But it isn’t a mystery that beautiful sights like the aurora borealis were first set in motion by the Creator. It’s no wonder he is called “the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

This article is from Answers magazine, October–December, 2021, p. 18.