Putting the sparkle in the Northern Lights

 

NASA satellites unlock the secrets of the aurora borealis.

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NASA engineers have used satellites to study the light activity of the aurora borealis in an effort to understand the enigmatic display.
 
The phenomenon, which has been a mystery for centuries, is a dazzling ‘dance’ of light and movement which are seen from the polar zone. Magnetic reconnection, the scientists concur, provides the answer.
 
Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs across the universe when stressed magnetic field lines snap into a new shape. In this instance, magnetic energy a third of the way to the Moon, was powering the substorms that gave rise to the display.
 
"As they capture and store energy from the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field lines stretch far out into space. Magnetic reconnection releases the energy stored within these stretched magnetic field lines, flinging charged particles back toward the Earth's atmosphere. They create halos of shimmering aurora circling the northern and southern poles," commented David Sibeck, project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
 
NASA monitored the lights using five identical THEMIS satellites co-ordinated from 20 ground observatories throughout Canada and Alaska. Every four days the satellites lined along the equator up to take observations which were synchronised with ground observatories. These were equipped with a magnetometer and a camera to determine when the lights would begin. The researchers then measured the magnetic field and the electrical currents that these particles generated.
 
The scientists were then able to confirm magnetic reconnection as the trigger for the substorms.

NASA observations

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