2017-03-01 Wed

Do you have the famous “Polar lights” or the “Northern Lights” on your bucket list?

We are guessing yes...These Aurora Borealis (Northern) or Aurora Australis (Southern) are indeed a 'must chase after' of natural events on everyone’s list! But did you know that Norway and Sweden had banknotes that artistically depicted northern lights on them?

A 200 Kroner banknote of Norway, in circulation from 2002 to 2009, has the portrait of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland (1867 - 1917) wearing spectacles to right with an artistic depiction of Northern lights (Aurora Borealis) rising upwards toward the North Star. The other things on the banknote are the stars and the constellations like the Little Bear (Ursa Minor) and the Big Dipper along with Birkeland's "Terrella" where he produced artificial northern lights. Intaglio rosette in a form of a snowflake, a snow crystal, symbolises winter, the time of year when the northern lights are most visible and it contains a hidden "N", and a holographic foil stripe.
The reverse has the map of the North Polar Region, along with the illustrations in the lower right-hand corner of the note, depicting Birkeland’s thoughts about the orientation of electric currents in connection with the Northern Lights. Currents near the auroral arcs flow parallel to the ground, while those that are higher up flow along the earth’s magnetic field lines. These are called as the Birkeland Currents.

The note depicted in the image alongside is a Swedish note which boasts the northern lights on it. This 10 Swedish Krona banknote in circulation from 1963 to 1998 has the portrait of King Gustaf VI Adolf along with Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden at centre on its obverse and a stylised depiction of Northern Lights and snowflakes on its reverse.

But what causes these mystic lights?
The Polar Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere. Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral colour, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. The polar lights can be seen in the northern or southern hemisphere, in an irregularly shaped oval centred over each magnetic pole.

Aren’t they just beautiful! Collect these banknotes till the time you see these lights for real. Or if you have already witnessed them then collect these notes as souvenirs!