City of lights
Pull on your warmest woollies and step out into the mid-winter cold of Churchill, Man., for the greatest show between heaven and Earth
— the aurora borealis
By Alison Gillmor with photography by Dawn Goss
There are many ways of explaining the northern lights, but the core of the experience goes
beyond description, which is why the centre’s five-day program “Winter Skies:
Aurora and Astronomy” relies on the one-two combo of Woloshyn’s classroom lectures,
which culminate in one modestly named “The Universe in 75 Minutes,” and direct
night-sky observation. The course has drawn 14 participants, including many Americans from
the sunshine states, for whom extreme cold has an exotic pull. Ranging in age from mid-fifties
to eighties — the intrepid Eddie Eddinger is 88 — they’re open-hearted,
open-minded and up for anything. They support Woloshyn’s claim that “seniors
make the best students ever.”
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Woloshyn, a 62-year-old Manitoba native, believes that astronomy should be accessible. He’s
not one for fancy telescopes, and when we go outside for fieldwork, he uses an old-school
approach to locating the constellations: find the Big Dipper with your naked eye, and work
from there. We’re given an Observer’s Handbook, which he insists we bring to
class every evening so we can warm up by locating data in the book’s charts and tables.
This exercise brings out all my grade-four apple-polishing instincts, and I’m thrilled
when I’m the first to figure out the name of the eleventh discovered satellite of Uranus.
(It’s Juliet.)
After a slow buildup — like all good teachers, Woloshyn has an instinct for drama — we
get the northern-lights basics. Sunspots throw out high-energy particles and solar winds
sweep the particles toward the Earth’s magnetic fields, which are strongest near the
poles. When these particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, the energy
becomes light. And not just any light, but dazzling, dynamic waves of white, green, pink
and red.
Online exclusive: Canadian Geographic Photo Club
Join us for an interview with photographer Dawn Goss and get
a behind-the-scenes look into a photo shoot for Canadian Geographic.
By Michela Rosano
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