NASA and the Canadian Space Agency are hoping an international collaboration of scientists will help unravel the mysteries of the aurora borealis, one of the world's greatest light shows.
The Themis project, which began two years ago and involves seven countries, came to Canada's three northern capitals on Monday. During a videoconference, researchers answered questions about the project.
While the aurora borealis can paint the northern sky with shades of red, green and violet, they can also spell trouble. Auroral storms can cause power outages and interfere with satellites and global positioning systems.
Scientists will be installing 20 observatories equipped with cameras to keep tabs on the aurora.
Despite studying the aurora borealis for decades, scientists still don't know what causes the eruption out in space or where and when the lights will appear. They also don't know what causes all the patterns, waves and swirls.
"For hours nothing happens, then all of a sudden it blows up and very interesting, intricate forms develop and this dynamics of the aurora has been puzzling us for some time," says Steve Mende, a scientists with the University of California at Berkeley.
To get some answers scientists are installing 20 observatories with automated high tech cameras -- 16 across Canada's North and four in Alaska.
"Canada is important in this project by virtue of geography, the fact that we have the land under the aurora," says Eric Donovan of the University of Calgary.
Educators hope the study will get more Northern students interested science.
"It will be interesting for our students to be able to see on the website how the project is going and what kind of information it will gather," says Judith Paradis Pastori of Nunavut's Arctic College.
In October 2006, researchers will send five satellites into a special orbit for two years. They'll line up to track energy from the time the northern lights begin to the time they disappear.
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Audio
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Tourism operators who depend on the northern lights to attract clients attended Monday's video conference. They say any help they can get predicting when the aurora borealis will appear would be helpful. Hear comments from Ragnar Wesstrom of Trout Rock Lodge and Mary Beryl-Long of Aurora World.
play: RealMedia »
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