Norðurljósauppgötvun NASA

Athyglisverð grein í WP í dag um norðurljósin og rannsóknir vísindamanna NASA á þeim.

The mysterious sudden brightening and wavelike movements often seen in the aurora borealis, also called the Northern Lights, are caused by periodic explosions of magnetic energy 80,000 miles above Earth, NASA researchers reported today

"We discovered what makes the Northern Lights dance," said Dr.Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles

As they capture and store energy from the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field lines stretch far out into space," said David Sibeck, THEMIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Magnetic reconnection releases the energy stored within these stretched magnetic field lines, flinging charged particles back toward the Earth's atmosphere."

Ég hef alltaf verið hrifinn af geimnum og ekki síður norðurljósunum. Þetta er ágætis grein en myndirnar með jafnast ekkert á við að sjá norðurljósin beint.