Planeterrella

Photos of the Planeterrella at Leicester University.

I managed to get to the basement of the Physics Dept. (Leicester University) to experience and take photos of the Planeterrella. Essentially, this device recreates an Aurora in a small vacuum. It was originally developed and created by Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland (13 December 1867 - 15 June 1917) to demonstrate that the aurora was not created through atmospheric conditions but through the interaction of electric ions eminating from space with the Earth’s magnasphere.

The images (and video) are to be used in the video wall installation at the Space Research Centre.

Planeterrella I

Quote from Birkeland

"It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume that the whole of space is filled with electrons and flying electric ions of all kinds. We have assumed that each stellar system in evolutions throws off electric corpuscles into space. It does not seem unreasonable therefore to think that the greater part of the material masses in the universe is found, not in the solar systems or nebulae, but in "empty" space".

Planeterrella II

Planeterrella III

Note: The aurora is starting to appear on the small sphere in this image. Electrons are eminating from the large sphere. The small points of light are almost the equivalent of solar flares.