Related topics: magnetic field · solar wind

Solar storm sparks dazzling northern lights

A storm from the broiling sun turned the chilly northernmost skies of Earth into an ever-changing and awe-provoking art show of northern lights on Tuesday.

Jupiter's aurora presents a powerful mystery

Scientists on NASA's Juno mission have observed massive amounts of energy swirling over Jupiter's polar regions that contribute to the giant planet's powerful aurora - only not in ways the researchers expected.

Modern science reveals ancient secret in Japanese literature

Nearly a millennium and a half ago, red light streaked across the night sky over Japan. Witnesses compared it to the tail of a pheasant—it appeared as a fan of beautiful red feathers stretched across the sky. Since the ...

Alaskan seismometers record the northern lights

Aaron Lojewski, who leads aurora sightseeing tours in Alaska, was lucky enough to photograph a "eruption" of brilliant pink light in the night skies one night in February.

Thin current sheets in space: where the action is

Much of the exciting action is space is confined to thin boundaries. The Universe is filled with plasma, a charged gas consisting of ions and electrons. Thin sheets with currents separate large plasma regions in space. Scientists ...

Planetary-scale 'heat wave' discovered in Jupiter's atmosphere

An unexpected "heat wave" of 700 degrees Celsius, extending 130,000 kilometers (10 Earth diameters) in Jupiter's atmosphere, has been discovered. James O'Donoghue, of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has ...

page 3 from 23