Jack, a bush pilot, charters tours of Alaska’s terrain that includes night flights to view the aurora borealis from the sky. One fateful October night, when forecasters predict an exceptionally vivid aurora, Jack embarks on a solo flight to fly closer to the multicolored lights. Drawn to a fingerlike funnel that stretches toward the ground, Jack ignores the concerns in the back of his mind and flies through the anomaly before it dissipates back into the night sky. As Jack returns to the airport, he has no idea that his life is about to change. Only a few days later, Jack is sitting in a local bar with friends when he suddenly realizes something is different. For a moment Jack seems to come out of himself – he can feel the pain of others, and sees brief flashes cross his mind. It is not long before Jack discovers he has developed a strange ability to entangle his mind with others. With his newfound gift, Jack soon finds ways to aid friends, uncover falsehoods, and even intertwine his mind with an eagle. In this intriguing science fiction tale, a fearless pilot must come to terms with his telepathic ability and somehow weave his unintended gift into the course of his life.

This book describes the history of the progress made in auroral science and magnetospheric physics by providing examples of ideas, controversies, struggles, acceptance, and success in some instances. The author, a distinguished auroral scientist, fully describes his experiences in characterizing and explaining auroral phenomena. The volume also includes beautiful full-color photos of the aurora.

Starting at the basic level, the handbook begins with matters of immediate concern to someone who hopes to see an auroral display: what causes the aurora, when it is most often seen, and how best to capture it on film. Later sections provide a review of all aspects of auroral science, including the mysterious realm of auroral sound. Includes numerous illustrations, ranging from cartoons to color plates and scientific drawings. Accessible to a wide audience. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Authoritative account written for the general reader.

This volume surveys our current scientific understanding of the terrestrial aurora. It is organized into eleven reviews detailing theoretical and observational aspects of characteristic auroral morphologies, and how these in turn are organized according to local time, latitude, and activity level. Popular descriptions often attribute the aurora to the interaction of charged particles from the solar wind with atoms in the upper atmosphere. In fact, most auroras are not the result of direct entry of solar wind particles. Rather, as detailed in this volume, auroral particle acceleration and generation of auroral forms occur primarily within the magnetosphere. Importantly, many key aspects of the aurora – most notably, the physical mechanisms responsible for the generation of discrete arcs – are still unexplained, and auroral physics continues to be an active area of scientific research. Each review chapter therefore includes a summary of open questions for further investigation. Providing the first comprehensive review of the terrestrial aurora in two decades, this book will aid both active researchers and newcomers interested in understanding the current state of the field. Previously published Space Science Reviews in the Topical Collection "Auroral Physics”