Ooo Pretty Lights!
Entry posted by CzaR
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It seems that scientists have finally discovered the energy source of the colorful Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. They found that 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 visible in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In March, satellites detected a burst of northern lights, or auroras borealis, over Alaska and Canada. During the two-hour light show, the satellites measured particle flow and magnetic fields from space.
To scientists' surprise, the geomagnetic storm powering the auroras raced 400 miles in a minute across the sky. The storms estimated power was equal to the energy released by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake.
Simply fascinating and beautiful, I can sometimes see the lights here if I look to the north. If you have never seen them it is really something to behold. It is almost hypnotic the way the lights move and fade in and out of various colors.
Update, further information was released today. Read Here.
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