Scientist have possibly confirmed what they’d previously suspected about the energy source for the Aurora Borealis (aka the Northern Lights). All they need is one more geomagnetic storm and they’ll know for sure.
New data from NASA’s Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth’s upper atmosphere to the sun.
The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights, said principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California at Los Angeles. (Source from CNN.com)
Like a 5.5 magnitude earthquake travelling four hundred miles a minute, those Aurora producing geomagnetic storms.
“Nature,” says Angelopoulous, “has been very kind to us.” Because, you know, we don’t deserve such a shimmering display of beauty and power, but nature loved us anyway and sent us northern lights. For the beauty of the earth, nature, we thank thee.
Photo copyright © 2006-2007, Andrew Stark. All rights reserved. Click for larger view.