this is the most spectacular natural
light show on earth
these images filmed from the
International Space Station capture what
has drawn people from around the world
for centuries
I have come all the way from Australia
to see it for myself welcome to Alaska
I'm just outside of Fairbanks and I'm
trying to find the Northern Lights the
aurora borealis as the Sun enters the
peak of its 11-year sunspot cycle it
ejects high-speed electrons and protons
into space deflected by the Earth's
magnetic field they collide with the
upper atmosphere near the poles
producing the Aurora
but with spectacular lights also comes
the threat of disruption to our
technological infrastructure charge is
streaming in from the Sun can damage
satellites cause extensive power outages
and disrupt the flight paths of planes
around the poles
scientists warn that unless we find out
more about solar storms we are extremely
vulnerable to a geomagnetic catastrophe
it's fed by the glaciers that they'll
ask about time they offer to this
research I'm joining a team of
scientists teachers and students who
live in them
today we're flying over the snow-covered
mountains of Denali National Park to
test out our gear in spectacular
surroundings
so what sort of research are you doing
yeah well we typically do high-altitude
balloon launches that's sort of the gist
of Project ether for students especially
that don't have access to the MIR space
environment you know we try to open that
up we're trying to further the science
of a rural research and looking at the
details of how sort of the global
electrical circuit connects and how the
aurora plays into that and causes this
you know beautiful aurora and then sort
of the physics involved they're using a
full tank of helium the team inflates a
latex weather balloon to two meters in
diameter this provides enough lift for a
six to seven kilogram payload we're
gonna send this up well about 25
kilometers or so this will help us
assess wind conditions in the upper
atmosphere in preparation for tonight's
launch into the Aurora it's actually
really good buoyancy just a little bit
of lift when it goes up this latex is
flexible so it keeps expanding expending
heading you go from about six or eight
feet up to about thirty feet diameter so
the you know 10 meters so you're the
size of a small house at that place you
know
eventually you reach some limit we just
can't keep it commanding and then it
pops and then you fall back down and we
fall by parachute the recovered footage
provides a stunning view from the edge
of space
but the real challenge is launching a
weather balloon into the aurora at night
the conditions haven't been ideal
because tonight it's a bit cloudy a bit
hazy and we've got a moon out which is
nearly full so it makes it very
difficult to spot these Northern Lights
the balloon must rise into the
stratosphere at just the right moment to
catch the intermittent aurora in action
the next morning we're on the hunt for
the payload
from 30 balloons only one caught sight
of the Aurora this is the first shot of
the Aurora from a weather balloon at
nearly eye level
for them to build some sort of rig put a
camera on it touch it lick it smell it
send it up a hundred thousand feet to
the edge of space and get it back you
know it's really awesome to see those
those pictures and to see that you know
your device went up there with young
scientists taking up the challenge these
images and the data gathered provide
just a glimpse into the future of
research on the aurora and how solar
emissions affect our lives