This post is the second in our series on the recent Winter Field School. You can read the first post here. The aurora is an awe-inspiring phenomenon that captures the imagination and fascination of people across the world. As a common interest, it brings together many different kinds of experience and expertise.
Likewise, Winter Field School participants hailed from across America. These nine undergraduate and graduate students, who had been part of the Eclipse Ambassadors program, pursue a variety of academic majors, from physics to meteorology to scientific illustration. In early January, they traveled to a week-long Eclipses to Aurora: Winter Field School at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to round out the Heliophysics Big Year with an educational hands-on introduction to another aspect of the field of heliophysics.
As one of their assignments, they crafted “epiphany essays” describing their learning. In this post, part of a series highlighting their thoughts and reflections, the students describe how the aurora makes them feel connected to their peers.
In our nighttime visit to Poker Flat Rocket Range, I realized what my father meant when he once reminded me that one day I will get to see amazing things in my life that human beings can only dream of. Under the sun-buttered, ghost-blue glow of the aurora, the patience and prudence my dad encouraged me to face my challenges with had paid off because I was a part of a truly unique experience. As I witnessed the wind-whipped wonder wander through the sky, it occurred to me that those “amazing things” don’t just include the aurora, they also included my fellow explorers. We share a strenuous and sometimes stupefying search not only for galactic marvels, but also for community to guide us through the inscrutable mysteries forming the fabric of our consciousness.
—Amehja
With a faint glow at Cleary Summit, my wishes seemed like something I could dream with my eyes open. Like something I could do, something that was real. A few images showed what was barely visible to the naked eye, and for the first time in a long while, I was flooded with nothing but hope. After passing glances of lights I thought I saw, flashes that I was unsure were real, we arrived at our aurora chase at Poker Flat. Polaris was at its high, Orion near my sightline, and three shooting stars brighter than I had ever seen before with my residing city lights. I laughed and smiled as they shot across the sky, and I realized that the animations I had seen on television I thought were cartoonish exaggerations, were actually something people have seen since the beginning of time. I saw Jupiter and its four Galilean moons through my telescope which I just learned how to use. This was something I only thought possible for astrophysicists and revered scientists. There was our moon in the Waxing Gibbous phase that illuminated almost all of the night sky as far as I could see. But that night, it was not the moonlight I sought.
And so, I looked to the darkest horizon I could find to see my only constant dream fulfilled before my eyes, so slowly dancing and bending to cradle the stars. All I could do, with my hands frozen and tears falling, I began to dream again with my eyes wide open.
—Andrea
This week, we engaged in speaker presentations. Sitting there, I said to myself, “Wow I come across from a very different academic background.” Later I realized, “Wait a second, so do the people around me, and that’s the beauty of this program.” I also realized that the aurora chasers, PhD students, and scientists had one thing in common: they persevered. Those speakers inspired me that my journey was unique to myself, and that I didn’t need to prove to anyone but myself that I can achieve anything that I put my mind to. The series of lectures this week enlightened me that the science behind it is magnificent, and the experience—the raw, unfiltered beauty—is something that changed me. It was as if the universe had opened just for me, inviting me into its ancient, swirling dance.
—Vishvi
The experience of chasing the aurora with the group I was with felt like no other feeling I’d had. Seeing the glee of others falling on the snow, taking pictures, and laughing together as a group really made the chase of the aurora so much fun. I guarantee it that one day I will return to Fairbanks to chase the auroras just like how I did in the Winter Field School.
—Emmanuel
Dr. Liz notes: “It is so nice to read the students’ reactions to the aurora, which connected them not only to each other, but to humanity more broadly. I hope seeing the aurora was a dream come true that opened their eyes to the future, empowering and sustaining them for persevering on their personal quests.”
We hope you enjoyed these portraits of their experiences. Stay tuned for more from Winter Field School students!
The Winter Field School was a supplement to the Eclipse Ambassadors program, and was led by Aurorasaurus and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The photos in this post were taken by WFS participant Jeffrey.
