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According to a new study conducted by UCL, a comprehensive study of auroras has revealed new ways to understand the physics of explosive energy releases into space.
Aurora is a revealing sign of physical processes in space. They act as television screens showing what is happening millions of kilometers away from Earth, where the magnetic field of our planet stretches in a long tail facing the Sun.
For the study, published today in Nature Communications the UCL team and the University of Reading observed from a distance the Aurora observation in rapid evolution to understand the physics behind why, when and how energy is released at the origin of the explosive reconfiguration of the aurora. .
"Somewhere in the immense volume in which the terrestrial magnetosphere is spreading, this energy is released by an instability that is difficult to define.They cause sub-thunderstorms through which charged particles penetrate the atmosphere of the Earth in the form of energy waves and illuminate the aurora, "says Dr. Jonathan Rae (UCL, Climate and Space Physics) of the author of the study.
"By closely studying the aurorae, return to the place where the instabilities occur in space and study the physics that cause them, it is much more effective than any other. try to observe large areas. "
The team swept much of the sky and found the perfect sub-storm located above Poker Flats in Alaska on September 18, 2012. Using the new data from the MOOSE (Multi-spectral Observatory of Sensitive Sensors (EM-CCD), they followed dawn for four minutes to the North Pole.
This is a relatively long period for this type of aurora to study allowing scientists to collect a multitude of data, which were then badyzed to determine specific patterns that gave important physical clues to aurora formation in space and time.
Dawn began as a line of bright These increasing undulations are the sign of instability in space.
By comparing these detailed features of the aurora to the most advanced theory, the team was able to refine the area of
"We have shown that it is possible to study only auroras to discover where were the instabilities in space, which was never done, "said the co-author, Dr. Colin Forsyth (UCL Space & Climate Physics).
"Our method allows us to predict what is instability and where it is in space.In fact, the region we have identified is incredibly small spatially – only a small fraction of the Earth's volume – and we hope to study it in more detail using spacecraft crossing the region. "
scientists were able to describe aurora and high-energy phenomena that occur on the Sun and other planets in the solar system, but this is the first time that real physical badysis is done.
"It is important to note that our work has given scientists more physics to work with.A wide range of theoretical models can be tested and refined according to the physical characteristics we have captured," said the co-ordinator. author, Ms. Clare Watt (University of Reading).
"What we have reported has escaped scientists since the dawn were first described in the 1960s, and although we use the Earth as our closest laboratory, the results will apply to Other events occurring elsewhere in the solar system We now look forward to locating this epicenter in space and determining what makes it unstable, "concluded Dr. Rae.
Explore Further:
Image: Aurora observed from orbit
More information:
N. M. Kalmoni et al, Diagnosis of plasma waves responsible for the release of explosive energy at the beginning of the sub-storm, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-018-07086-0
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