Scientists find the trigger of the Northern Lights

[MedLine]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/science/space/25aurora.html?hp


The snapping of magnetic fields occurred first, followed by a burst of auroras. Surprisingly, the disruption in the charged particle current occurred after the aurora. Proponents of that hypothesis had thought that the magnetic snapping caused the change in electric current and that, in turn, led to the auroras.

This is pretty suprising to me and I dont quite understand how the sequence could play out in this way. Regardless, it is a pretty interesting piece.



Medline

[hypatia]

I found that very interesting, it makes sense, thanks for posting it.

[Astronuc]

The snapping of magnetic fields is known as magnetic reconnection.

It appears that the observations support magnetic reconnection as the initiating phenomenon for auroral substorms.

Tail Reconnection Triggering Substorm Onset - Science Magazine
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1160495