Earth’s magnetosphere tagged posts

A University of Southampton study has revealed an intriguing new clue in the mystery of what triggers periods of very intense, brightly colored activity during displays of both the southern and northern lights.

Known as a “magnetospheric substorm,” this awe-inspiring phenomenon, which blankets the night sky in green and purple, is almost always preceded by what space scientists call “auroral beads”—a necklace-like wave of multiple luminous points of light which eventually evolve into the storm.

Southampton scientists have now shown there is a link between these auroral beads and the intensity of low frequency radio waves above the aurora in Earth’s magnetosphere—a vast area around our planet that is dominated...

In 2020, scientists reported the detection of hematite, an iron oxide mineral otherwise known as rust, distributed through the higher latitudes of the moon, particularly on the nearside. This came as a surprise, considering the low concentrations of oxygen—which is required for the formation of rust—on the moon. Researchers proposed several theories to account for the origins of the oxygen in moon rust, including the degassing of volatiles from lunar magma, asteroids, comets, or large impact events.

However, the only explanation that could account for the distribution patterns of the hematite was that oxyge...

The ERG spacecraft observed chorus waves and scattered electrons in the magnetosphere, the origin of pulsation auroras. The scattered electrons precipitated into the atmosphere resulting in auroral illumination. Intermittent occurrence of chorus waves and associated electron scattering lead to auroral pulsation. Credit: 2018 ERG science team.

For the first time, a satellite has directly observed the shower of electrons bouncing across Earth’s magnetosphere, allowing scientists to figure out what causes a rare form of Northern Lights known as pulsating auroras. Typically, the Aurora Borealis is caused by charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun...

In this simulation, a reconnection even pushes a blob of plasma toward Earth. The jet blown in the opposite direction wobbles due to the unstable conditions. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Yi-Hsin Liu/Joy Ng, producer

Every day, invisible magnetic explosions are happening around Earth, on the surface of the sun and across the universe. These explosions, known as magnetic reconnection, occur when magnetic field lines cross, releasing stored magnetic energy. Such explosions are a key way that clouds of charged particles – plasmas – are accelerated throughout the universe. In Earth’s magnetosphere – the giant magnetic bubble surrounding our planet — these magnetic reconnections can fling charged particles toward Earth, triggering auroras.

Magnetic reconnection, in addition to push...