The exceptional aurora of 1989 in Patagonia

Authors

  • Néstor Camino Complejo Plaza del Cielo – CONICET-FHCS, UNPSJB. Esquel, Chubut, Argentina
  • Santiago Paolantonio Museo Astronómico, Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55767/2451.6007.v32.n1.28940

Keywords:

Aurora; History; 1989; Patagonia; Didactics of Astronomy

Abstract

In March 1989, an extremely unusual event occurred: the observation of an aurora from Patagonia. These shocking phenomena, products of the Sun-Earth interaction through the solar wind, magnetic fields and atmosphere, are little known and generally associated with some conceptual inaccuracies, which have an unwanted impact on their learning: to call them "Northern Lights", to associate their existence to the geographical poles and not link them to the interaction between the Earth and the Sun, among others. There have been numerous references to auroras in the northern hemisphere since ancient times, but much less in the southern regions of America, due to their less frequent observation because the magnetic PS is displaced in the direction of Australia with respect to the geographical PS. The didactic approach and the dissemination of the auroras must include the integral treatment of the Earth as a magnetic field generator with poles and regions of a behavior much different from the geographical ones, in a natural environment determined mainly by the Sun.

References

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Published

2020-06-15

Issue

Section

Essays and Special Topics

How to Cite

The exceptional aurora of 1989 in Patagonia. (2020). Journal of Physics Teaching, 32(1), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.55767/2451.6007.v32.n1.28940