The auroras are the result of a complex interaction between the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field. Here’s what happens. The sun’s heat charges the particles in the solar wind, a stream of electrically charged subatomic particles that continually emanates from the sun. As the ...
The auroras occur in the ionosphere.The ionosphere is the layer of the upper atmosphere where high- energy solar radiation strips electrons from oxygen and nitrogen atoms, and leaves them as positively charged ions.The auroras are the result of a complex interaction between the solar wind and the...
Energy flows away from the Sun toward the Earth in a stream of electrified particles that move at speeds around a million miles per hour. These particles are called plasma, and the stream of plasma coming from the Sun is called the solar wind. The more active the Sun, the stronger the ...
Taken by astrophotographer Jeff Dai, a stunning green aurora is seen at its zenith - the highest point in the sky - so we are getting a view of the event from below. The curtain of light is seen curling as though vibrations are going through it, before straightening out again. ...
Auroras on Earth are related to the Sun’s magnetic field. The Sun’s activity increases and decreases over an 11-year period called the solar cycle. We are currently approaching the solar cycle maximum, meaning there’s a higher number of sunspots on the Sun’s surface. ...
Solar storms are immense clouds of charged solar particles that sweep out through the solar system. When one passes by Earth, these charged particles interact with the planet's magnetic field, causing a disturbance known as a geomagnetic storm, which can result in bright aurora d...
Auroral emissions from the outer planets have been observed from the ground, Earth-orbiting satellites, flyby spacecraft, and orbiter-based instruments at X-ray, UV, visible, IR, and radio wavelengths. The UV and IR are atmospheric emissions, produced when atmospheric species are excited by the...
But the aurora-causing solar flares and coronal mass ejections currently spewing from the sun are a result of the same sunspots that triggered solar activity in May, according to Dr. Ryan French, solar physicist at the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado. ...
where thin-current-sheet conditions are conducive to reconnection. The dayside magnetodisc is usually considered thicker than the nightside due to the compression of solar wind, and is therefore not an ideal environment for reconnection. In contrast, a recent statistical study of magnetic flux circula...
Besides the pulsed reconnection mechanism which explains the PMAFs in terms of newly merged magnetic field tube, there are two other possible mechanisms. One of those is based on the presence of a gap between the central plasma sheet and the LLBL / magnetopause. This means that the dayside ...