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Questions tagged [aurora]

Questions of natural light display on planets with atmosphere predominantly in their high latitudes caused by charged particles from the respective star.

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8 votes
2 answers
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Seasonal variation of aurora and magnetic activity

Following the link of this question it shows at least seemingly sound statistics that the magnetic activity is seasonally dependent. So far it was my believe that the magnetic activity depends on the ...
planetmaker's user avatar
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-2 votes
0 answers
66 views

In the 1800s, what did they think caused the northern lights? [migrated]

I watched an excellent documentary about the Franklin Expedition. It was always daytime, even when the sun was down.
Miss_Understands's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
144 views

Are you more likely to see an aurora a week before or a week after the equinox?

Around the equinoxes the chances of seeing auroras are higher. Are you more likely to see an aurora if you go a week before or a week after the equinox?
AhsokaTano's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
33 views

What causes aurora at lower latitudes during solar storms?

During solar storms, aurora can be viewed a lower latitudes in regions which normally cannot see aurora. What physically allows for the aurora to be seen at lower latitudes? Is it the influx of energy ...
Jack's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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Low Latitude Aurora

It's been in the news recently that the aurora was visible in Europe at much lower latitudes than usual, ie, not just in Scandinavia but as far south as the Adriatic. Sadly, I didn't find out about it ...
ScienceSnake's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
100 views

I spotted a very small, quite foggy but uniform aurora-type looking green light in the sky, but I live near the equator [duplicate]

I live in India, from there, a few years(2016) ago, I had spotted quite bright, uniformly(didn't change the shape while moving) crystal shaped green light very slowly moving above the clouds during ...
Yug Prajapati's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
69 views

What are the typical emissions of Jupiter's Aurorae?

I'm looking for some solid measurements of the full range of emissions from the Aurorae on Jupiter. I've found partial sets of data in the past which are most easily summarized here. As you can see, ...
Hippeus_Lancer's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
345 views

Have auroras on Titan been observed yet?

After reading the very insightful introduction to auroras on other planets I started digging and found various questions and some answers here on the same topic, see below. What I did not figure out ...
B--rian's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
917 views

Are there auroras on Mercury?

Auroras on Earth are caused by interactions between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. I've also seen a few pictures of auroras on Jupiter and Saturn. Mercury has a global magnetic field. Does it ...
usernumber's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
69 views

What is the difference between aurorae and electroglow?

One of the discoveries of Voyager 2 at Uranus was a phenomenon called "electroglow", which as I understand it is related to charged particles interacting with the atmosphere that cause the ...
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9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why is Ganymede's aurora only visible in ultraviolet while Earth's is bright green and red?

GANYMEDE AURORAE NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observed a pair of auroral belts encircling the Jovian moon Ganymede. The belts were observed in ultraviolet light by the Space Telescope Imaging ...
Bob516's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Could Ganymede's aurora be seen with the naked eye?

If one was orbiting in the Jovian system, as depicted in this artist conception, could the aurora be seen unassisted? Hubblesite-Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Bob516's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
193 views

What is the science behind the polar light shapes

Is there any scientific explanation that causes polar lights (aurora borealis/australis) to have their unique shapes? Specifically: Rayed Arcs Dual Bands Corona (Images on NASA Pdf) This site (by ...
Murad Babayev's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
19k views

Why do Auroras only occur in polar regions?

Why is it that Auroras only occur in the North and South poles. Why don't they occur in the equator or anywhere for that matter?
Mihir Shah's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
170 views

Can cosmic rays alone produce noticeable aurorae in bodies far away from the Sun?

Aurorae are caused by energetic particles interacting with planetary atmospheres. Part of this flux comes from the Sun (solar wind) while the rest is cosmic radiation. My main question is: could a ...
pablodf76's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
82 views

Auroras: is there any bump in frequency at certain times of night, or times of year?

I'm trying to find out if there is a range of times at night, and/or days during the year, in which the probability of seeing an aurora is higher than average. The aurora section of the British ...
John's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
284 views

How come the northern and southern lights are the same?

Not an expert, hence the question. To my knowledge the magnetic field of the earth travels south to north. Wouldn't there be a bias on whether the charged particles causing the auroras are negatively ...
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