Third time was the charm, right? At least, that was what Felicity was hoping as she made her way up to the Astronomy Tower after dinner one evening, just as the sun was setting. Her impending exams on her mind, she decided to lug her books up there and do some studying, and hopefully manage to finish her Astronomy Assignment whilst she was there. And third time it was, if she didn't count the magically generated Aurora she'd observed in the Igloo, which she still felt had been kind of cheating. Instead of her usual haunts of the Reading Lounge and Observation Deck, the seventh year opted for a change of place and headed into the Tower Patch, breathing in the clean, relaxing air before finding a place to sit.
After a few hours of writing, Felicity looked up from the practice essay she was reading over and gasped at the sight of light in the distance. Rubbing her eyes, she checked her watch and was glad to see that it was only just past midnight and therefore not a sunrise she was experiencing
again. That had been embarrassing enough once. Fascinated, the lights captivated her for a long while before she could drag her gaze away to pull her notes from her bag and add to them.
SPOILER!!: The Aurora Borealis
Aurora Borealis (The Northern Lights)
Derived from Aurora, the Roman Goddess of Dawn, and Boreas, Greek for 'north wind'.
Caused by charged particles entering the upper atmosphere of the Earth, along magnetic field lines, with energy provided by solar winds.
Visibility in Scotland: primarily in autumn and winter, during the early hours of the morning. (NOT to be confused with the sunrise).
The replica lights present in the Igloo are a vibrant green and purple, with some pink entering in waves.
In areas where sightings of the lights are rare, they may be seen as a bad omen (e.g. Ancient Greece).
The Inuit thought they were spirits.
Viking communities thought the display was fires at the edge of the world.
Colors visible:
Red - high altitudes.
Green and Blue - low altitudes.
Other colours (yellow, orange, pink) - a mixture of the red, blue and green lights.
The aurora also produces faint sounds, however it's very rare to hear.
Seen over the Scottish horizon, later in the year than one might usually expect, and therefore all the more luck a sighting. Predominantly green, with flashes of blue and areas of yellow. No sound able to be detected.