Northern lights seen farther south than usual

Northern lights seen farther south than usual

Atlanta (CNN) -- The northern lights came to the Deep South on Monday night, making them visible hundreds of miles farther south than they normally would be. Scientists call it a coronal mass ejection. To the rest of us, the brilliant shades of green, orange and red that danced across the night sky might simply be called beautiful or eerie. The northern tier of the United States -- places like Seattle, Minneapolis or Boston -- is normally the southern limit for the solar flares, meteorologist Jim Branda at the National Weather Service office in Memphis, Tennessee, said. But on Monday night, the display -- also known as the aurora borealis -- could be seen as far south as Oklahoma City, Memphis and Atlanta. The light show was caused by a solar outburst. "A storm on the sun's surface was blown off, and the solar wind scattered it," Branda said, explaining what created the natural light show. "The energy and magnetism interact with the earth's atmosphere and the magnetic field." The Twitter universe lit up with comments. Some said the display was "stunning," while others called it "wonderful." Enjoy it while you can, Branda said. The southern light show normally only happens once every three or four years. If the sky is cloudy, it might be seen only once every 10 years in southern states, according to Branda

The following paper is timely and interesting from a scientific point of view in general and from a psychological standpoint in particular. The present European war is well termed a world war, the greatest war of nations on the records of history, a war shaking social organizations with their conflicting instincts and passions to the very foundations. This world maelstrom in which nations, large and small, are caught unawares is fraught with events no one can foresee, with consequences no contemporary can conceive. We have the good fortune of living in one of the greatest epochs in the history of mankind. Revolutionary changes are taking place on a gigantic scale under our very eyes without our realization of their trend and significance. We are in the midst of the mad whirl of this raging world hurricane so that our mental vision is obscured, our mind is paralyzed by the very magnitude of the furious struggle of frenzied social and psychic forces. No scientist, no statesman can forecast any of the consequences, or estimate the meaning of the profound and extensive transformations rapidly taking place in the nature of society and man. This much we seem to feel and know, that humanity is in labor with big events which are far beyond our ken, that society is in the throes of a new social order the character or even the outlines of which cannot be discerned in this infernal confusion of supreme struggle of social elements and human passions. Man and society are now being forged into new forms, hammered by Vulcan blows of war and revolt.

Helioviewer application

Helioviewer.org is a web-based visualization tool for solar physics data based on the JPEG 2000 image compression standard. JPEG 2000 offers many useful new features and has the potential to revolutionize the way high-resolution image data are disseminated and analyzed. Using JPEG 2000, we can serve data to a client in highly compressed, quality progressive, and region-of-interest based form. These features make it possible to minimize the data transmitted while maximizing the use of the data that is transmitted. This is especially relevant for solar physics since NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is currently generating more than a terabyte of image data per day. Providing efficient access to such large data volumes at both high spatial and high time resolution is of paramount importance to support scientific discovery.

Tchijevsky’s Theory of Sunspot Activity and Human Activity

To test his hypothesis that sunspot cycle influenced human activity, Tchijevsky constructed an Index of Mass Human Excitability covering each year form 500 BC to 1922 AD. He then investigated the histories of 72 countries during that period, noting signs of human unrest such as wars, revolutions, riots, expeditions and migrations, plus the numbers of humans involved. Tchijevsky found that fully 80% of the most significant events occurred during the 5 years of maximum sunspot activity.

Tchijevsky, a Russian scientist, who presented a paper to the American Meteorological Society at Philadelphia in the late 19th century. He prepared a study of the history of mass human movement compared to the solar cycle, beginning with the division of the Solar cycle into four parts: 1) Minimum sunspot activity; 2) increasing sunspot activity; 3) maximum sunspot activity; 4) Decreasing sunspot activity. He then divided up the agitation of mass human movements into five phases:

provoking influence of leaders upon masses
the “exciting” effect of emphasized ideas upon the masses
the velocity of incitability due to the presence of a single psychic center
the extensive areas covered by mass movements
Integration and individualization of the masses

By these comparisons he constructed an “Index of Mass Human Excitability” covering each year from 500 B.C. to 1922 A.D. He investigated the histories of 72 countries in that period, noting signs of human unrest such as wars, revolutions, riots, expeditions and migrations, plus the number of humans involved. Tchijevsky found that fully 80% of the most significant events occurred during the years of maximum sunspot activity. He maintained that the “exciting” period may be explained by an acute change in the nervous and psychic character of humanity, which takes place at sunspot maxima.

Tchijevsky discovered that the solar minimum is the lag period when repression is tolerated by the masses, as if they lacked the vital energy to make the needed changes. He found that during the sunspot maximum, the movement of humans is also at its peak. Tchijevsky’s study is the foundation of sunspot theory on human behavior, and as Harlan True Stetson, in his book Sunspots and Their Effects (available from BSRF), stated, “Until, however, someone can arrive at a more convincing excitability quotient for mass movements than professor Tchijevsky appears yet to have done, scientists will be reluctant to subscribe to all the conclusions which he sets forth.” Stetson did acknowledge that the mechanism by which ultraviolet radiation is absorbed was still a puzzle biologists had to solve.

The mechanism behind the stimulation of human behavior is still a mystery, but the theories of Georges Lakhovsky may shed some light. He considered his book, “The Secret of Life” (reprinted by BSRF), the extension of a scientific hypothesis of a new theory of life. The Sun is one of Earth’s primary sources of cosmic radiation. While the Sun does produce its own radiations, solar winds actually capture passing cosmic dust and radiation and blow it into the earth’s atmosphere. While it may seem frightening to some, this can actually be considered the Primal Vibration that sets the cells vibrating with Vital Force. This is the Prana, that Cosmic Breath, which is meant to vitalize man, and is the source for our evolution.

Sunspots and Human Behavior

Summer Mailaise

After the sun reaches its furthest point from the sun, sometime after July 4th there is a gradual momentum shift for the planet as a whole. The relative slowness of the orbit of the earth around the sun at this furthest point, begins to shift as the earth will quicken its velocity through the ether of space with increasing rapidity.

But this transition is not as abrupt as the turning of the season around the perihelion. Unlike the frenzy of winter holidays* and subsequent depressive fall off

There is a moment of rest in the eco-pyscho-system system as earth slowly gathers momentum. This period is a specific period in the summer from the end of July on through the dog days.

Traditionally Dog Days and the psycho-physical shift attributed to them has been related to the heat of summer, and the obvious effects that heat has on slowing things down in their blooming glory.

But if you reconsider this in terms orbital variations, it seems obvious that he elliptical quality of the orbit also accounts for the seasonal variations in the collective consciousness.

Its is easy to confuse the obvious causes with the more subtile mechanisms. One can not readily determine the relative distance to the sun from personal observations. However temperature, the angle of the sun, the length of days, these are easy to grasp as being the cause of most notables seasonal things. However the million mile difference and a substantial velocity difference seem equally as likely sources for some of these affects.

Who has studied the elements of chronobiology which have to do with orbital, as opposed to axial dynamics?

*northern hemisphere winter