Why the rare 'blood aurora' inspires awe – and foreboding
by Dr Melanie Windridge from on (#2B6K8)
Fortitude Series 2 opened with a sinister and spectacular 'blood aurora'. So what is it, and why has it long been considered a bad omen?
The red glow in the sky grew and lengthened, the lower edge twisting into a bright band against the darkness. Slowly the colours rippled and broke and reappeared elsewhere. Pillars of red streaked down from above like blood dripping from the heavens. The aurora borealis had made an appearance in rare and spectacular form: the blood aurora.
So opened series two of Fortitude last week, a popular TV series set in a fictional town in Arctic Norway. But a red aurora is a real and spectacular scientific phenomenon, and one steeped in mythology.