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Cause of Aurora Borealis Confirmed
An anonymous reader writes "There are reports that satellites have aided scientists in confirming why the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) exists. 'New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found 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.'"
What happens within the laboratory with *electrical* plasmas is that the plasma will tend to form filaments of charged particles. It is a natural state of the plasma. Furthermore, multiple filaments will tend to possess long-range attraction and short-range repulsion with one another. In other words, they will twist around one another without fully combining. This can be observed by any layperson by looking closely at the point where your novelty plasma globe's filaments touch the glass. What appears as one filament from a distance is in fact two filaments twisting around one another like a rope that unwind with contact to glass. This roped structure within the laboratory constitutes a flow of charged particles, and as those charged particles move across the rope in response to voltage potentials, this flow of charged particles will in turn create helical magnetic fields around the filaments. Maxwell's Equations demand it.
The observation of a roped magnetic structure connecting the Sun and Earth is extremely important because we know from our laboratory experiences with plasmas that rope-like structures occur when the plasma is electrical. I'm very curious what the response will be from the astrophysical community about this *structure*. Will they argue that the similarity in morphologies is actually coincidental?
If so, somebody should share the talking points with NASA, because they appear to be off-message
From http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/auroras/northern_lights.html:
"A man cannot begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows." --Epictetus, 1st Century A.D.
it's dust.
"The world is a construct of forceful imagination. Those who don't know walk around in the reailties of those who do"
I'm sure the electric universe guys will have a field day with this...
I thought it was already well established that the aurora was caused by Santa's reindeer throwing up.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?
Some days I just get bored and Troll post all the memes I can think of...
There are reports that satellites have aided scientists in confirming why the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) exists. 'New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found 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.
That's not true at all. It happens when you're cooking steamed hams, and your kitchen catches on fire.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
What about the "Intelligent Twinkling" explanation? Scientists seem completely unwilling to even CONSIDER this possibility!
We still know what we already knew. Tonight I can finally sleep easy!
By "dust," he means the mysterious substance that drives the powers-that-be of Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy to distraction. And it's the cause of the Northern Lights in that alternate universe.
The first book of the trilogy -- known as "The Golden Compass" in the U.S. and "The Northern Lights" in Britain -- opened in theaters last week.
"We've confirmed a theory that was already pretty well accepted as being fact."
Way to understate the importance of confirming theories. Heh.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
It's Dust.
Where's MY Panserbjørne?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
We've always hypothesized this, but just got evidence/confirmation?
Or am I misinterpreting it here?
(I was about to tag this as being very old news before this).
"Well, of course no "proven" theory has later been found to wrong either has it?"
Strike two, equate science and proof again and your outta here!
Climate change: Did you fall for the "science has nothing to do with consenus" meme?
Cold fusion: Rejected as a worthwhile inquiry since after a lot of attempts nobody has been able to confirm the original finding.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Happy Birthday Kristian Birkeland. 140 years old today! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkeland_current
"flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields"
Aren't those the lyrics to some 90s trance song?
Ooh, yeesh... buddy, hate to be the one to break it to you... "science" class got cut from your kids' school's budget back about... well, about two or three years after the Beijing Wall came down and Germany finally gave up Communalism in favor of Christianity...
Yeah, I know, bummer.
Would it make you feel better to know that, once a week, we show the kids our HD-DVDs of "Smarter Than A 5th Grader - Season 1"? We feel that seeing another child succeed on television helps develop a child's positive self-image. An incredibly handy attribute when you're standing in the unemployment line.
One man's constant is another man's variable.
An excellent example of how science is supposed to get done.
We think we know. We're pretty sure we know. We're damned sure we know and nobody's even close to providing a better explanation. Alright.....this is how it is; take it to the bank. (But we'll still give you a hearing if you have convincing proof something else is happening. You'd better have a testable hypothesis, though).
The method isn't perfect, but it spits out right answers more often than anything else.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Climate Change "No Consensus": That is a pretty bad meme. Obviously, lay people have little more to go on that the "consensus" of the body of work. Unfortunately, the consensus wrt Climate Change formed way before the measurements were sufficient to really say anything, and became entangled in political discourse as a result. (or maybe as the cause)
Either way, it is now extremely difficult to separate the good science from the bad, especially for lay people, as the consensus in that field was tainted. Even if the Scientists themselves hadn't gotten involved in the politics, the various very-loud-groups have been squawking and over hyping the preliminary results to further their half-baked utopian ideas.
Many are using the "Well, even if we're not sure, don't you think it would be a good idea to take action just in case?" argument and then proposing action that would be akin to starting a course of radical chemotherapy on the advice of a team of chiropractors. Others are demanding Action! Now! Then starting companies to do something known to be ineffective and changing nothing about their own lives, even to the point of flying around by private jet to deliver a powerpoint presention partially about the dangers of wastefully burning fuel by flying private jets. Almost as if they really don't believe what they're saying, and are just cynically using it as a political springboard or worse, as hype for modern indulgences scams.
I think what you're seeing, with a lot of the so-called "deniers," is the natural lash-back against a very real hysteria which, in the absence of sufficient critical ability to make impassioned arguments for moderation based on the real data, which again, is itself sometimes difficult to trust, has latched onto whatever arguments it finds, however specious. Certainly there is some wisdom in being skeptical of any consensus when it has a real effect on how you live your life.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!