LONELY PLANET: The Aurora Chaser

About this episode

The episode explores the awe-inspiring experience of witnessing the Northern Lights through the insights of Aurora expert Tom Kerss.

Witnessing the Northern Lights is one of the most awe-inspiring experiences on the planet, and in today’s interview episode we’re going to hear what it feels like to stand beneath them - a cascade of color raining down from the sky all around you. In Norse mythology the Aurora were the armour of the Valkyries. The Inuit saw spirits playing in the sky. The Sami hid indoors in fear. And science has its own story too, because what we are really witnessing is the energy of the sun itself, travelling 93 million miles across space, and exploding into color in our atmosphere. We may now be able to explain them scientifically, but their effect on us is unchanged. This is a story about the science of solar winds and magnetic fields, the mythology of ancient cultures who saw gods and fire in the sky, and the art of chasing something wild, unpredictable and utterly mesmerizing. Taking us deeper into that experience is Tom Kerss, one of the world's leading Aurora experts. Tom's passion for the Aurora is infectious, his knowledge extraordinary, and his way of describing what you see in that sky inspiring and poetic. FIND OUT MORE Produced in collaboration with Lonely Planet: lonelyplanet.com…

People in this episode

Guest: Tom Kerss

Topics covered

• Northern Lights
• Aurora
• mythology
• science
• travel
• interview

Keywords

• Northern Lights
• Aurora
• Tom Kerss
• mythology
• solar winds
• Hurtigruten
• travel

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lonely Planet, Hurtigruten

Places: Norwegian coast, Aurora

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