Credit: NASA/MSFC/CXC/A.Bhardwaj & R.Elsner, et al.; Earth model: NASA/GSFC/L.Perkins & G.Shirah
Do Look Back
As the Sun rages, storms buffet the planets and ignite the aurorae borealis. The
Aurora Borealis, or the "Northern Lights" is produced as charged particles
ejected from the Sun during solar
flares spiral in the Earth's magnetic field and get funneled to the Earth's
north pole. (A similar phenomena, the Aurora Australis, occurs near the south
pole.) As the particles spiral they produce light at wavelengths from optical
light to shorter wavelengths invisible to the human eye. But not invisible to
the X-ray detectors on the Chandra X-ray
Observatory. Ten times in 2004 Chandra pointed at the Earth's north pole,
and detected X-ray emission associated with auroral activity. The image above shows arcs
of X-rays as seen by Chandra superimposed on an image of the Earth.
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Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified Tuesday, 27-Feb-2024 10:08:16 EST
