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NASA's Polar satellite observes daytime aurora phenomenon

Posted Mar 08, 2008 at 02:02PM by Charles D. Listed in: News, Spacecraft Tags: NASA, Northern Lights, THEMIS
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Aurora patterns observed from NASA's Polar satellite - Image 1 


Auroras have always been a sight to behold under the night time sky. However, thanks to the efforts of a twelve-year old satellite orbiting above the Earth's poles, scientists were able to note that these beautiful light displays were not confined to its nocturnal occurrences.

According to studies compiled during the past few years, NASA's Polar satellite was able to look at the non-stop activity of the Earth's Northern and Southern Lights under a special ultraviolet filter. Polar was also able to record activity of massive "substorms" of energy which accounts for the sponteneous Antarctic aurora displays seen under the night sky.

With the help of five other THEMIS satellites, Polar will continue to observe these substorms and try to puzzle out the mystery of why these massive outbursts occur. Scientists are hoping to map the complex flow of particles and fields in Earth's magnetosphere with the data collected from these observations.

Unfortunately, Polar may no longer be up to the task set out for it since it recently ran out of fuel, thus limiting its ability to track Earth's poles. Nevertheless, researchers say they can still obtain enough information in the next couple of months to try and piece together the auroral puzzle.

[Via NASA] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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