Science: Auroras for Study

In the sedate British journal Nature a reputable scientist last week made a fantastic proposal—to create artificial auroras or “northern lights” in the thin upper atmosphere by means of radio beams sent up from Earth. The proponent was Physics Professor V.A. Bailey of the University of Sydney, Australia.

Laboratory tests with discharge tubes containing air at low pressures, said Dr. Bailey, show that radio waves of gyro-frequency* would produce a strong glow in the ionosphere (electrified radio mirror) 60 or 70 miles up. The artificial display would be the same in fundamental principle (emission of light by electrically excited atoms) as natural auroras, or as the glow caused in neon lights by electric currents. The scientist pointed out that existing super-power installations, such as Cincinnati’s 500-kilowatt WLW (see p. 66) or the Moscow station of equal power, were strong enough to induce glow discharges in the upper air which would be of immense value for studying changing movements and density of ions in the ionosphere.