Satellite images reveal ethereal auroral storm raging above the North Pole
Scientific American · LC · trust 43/100
The satellite, Smile, is a joint European and Chinese mission to study space weather and geomagnetic storms above Earth
This is the first image to be released from the ultraviolet imager (UVI) on the European-Chinese Smile mission.
Auroras swirling above the North Pole are a gorgeous sight from Earth’s surface—and from space.
A satellite named Smile has captured an auroral substorm raging above the North Pole. The footage represents the first images released from the mission’s ultraviolet (UV) camera. The satellite was launched into a highly elliptical orbit above Earth in May and is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to study solar and geomagnetic storms and space weather .
The images show the somewhat hurricanelike swirl of UV light during the auroral substorm over the North Pole. This kind of storm is caused by solar wind interacting with Earth’s magnetic field.
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Taken on July 24, during a particularly large influx of solar particles into the atmosphere, the observations reveal the full extent of the northern lights in UV light.
Storms like this are best viewed in the ultraviolet range because there’s no interference from daytime sunlight. Smile will be recording auroras for 45 hours at a time, according to the ESA.
One of the two first images to be released from the soft x-ray imager (SXI) on the European-Chinese Smile mission shows the aftermath of an exploded star. With SXI, Smile is becoming the first spacecraft to make detailed, long-running x-ray observations of Earth’s magnetic field.
Smile’s x-ray camera also captured the bright remnants of a distant exploding star—but in the future, it, too, will be pointed at Earth in order to better understand our planet’s place in space.
Adam Kovac is a breaking news reporter at Scientific American .
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American
Read the original at Scientific American →
Open in TruthVane →