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    Aurora Oddity: Northern Lights Display Dazzles Without Big Sun Flare

    By Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
    Space.com     | SPACE.com – Thu, Feb 16, 2012

    For reasons scientists can't yet explain, the northern lights blazed up in a dazzling display this week, despite the apparent lack of a major solar flare typically associated with these celestial light shows.

    The weird northern lights display began on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), when an uptick in activity in Earth's magnetic field sparked a geomagnetic storm, according to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com.

    "Sometimes the sky surprises us," astronomer Tony Phillips wrote on Spaceweather.com. "On Feb. 14-15, with little warning, geomagnetic activity rippled around the Arctic Circle, producing an outbreak of auroras that veteran observers said was among the best in months."

    The Canadian Space Agency's AuroraMAX camera, which records the northern lights and posts them on the Web, snapped several stunning photos of the bright green auroras on Tuesday and Wednesday. Skywatchers also wrote in to Spaceweather.com with their impressions from the northern United States, Sweden, Norway and other northern locales.

    According to Phillips, there was some early speculation that a Feb. 10 sun storm, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), may have triggered the northern lights show, but this solar outburst has not yet been confirmed.

    Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, creating ripples of glowing light. The charged particles are funneled to Earth's poles by the planet's magnetic field, so the auroras are typically only visible to skywatchers in far northern or far southern latitudes. The northern lights are called the aurora borealis, while the southern lights are dubbed the aurora australis.

    "The reason for the outburst is still not completely clear," Phillips wrote in a post today (Feb. 16). "No CME was obvious in local solar wind data at the time; the disturbance just … happened."

    The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current sun cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.

    Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

     

    13 comments

    • neg
      neg  •  2 mths ago
      its because of polution
    • ddn
      ddn  •  2 mths ago
      The reason why is the Earths magnetic field is weakening allowing even the normal solar flux to penetrate.. 2012 here we come!
    • Jack Burton
      Jack Burton  •  Beverly Hills, California  •  3 mths ago
      Perhaps the Sun is creating the warming effects.... Other planets in the solar syatem are heating up as well. Mars polar ics caps shrinking..... So much for man made global warming...
      • Knuckle_draggin_goon
        Knuckle_draggin_goon 3 mths ago
        Mars polar ice caps shrinking?
      • Repeat Offender
        Repeat Offender 3 mths ago
        Jack, I don't think we know yet how much influence humans have had on global warming. I think you're looking for a reason not to believe humans have anything to do with global warming, so you're not thinking very critically. Tell me, what's your source that says other planets are heating up, too?
      • Jeremy
        Jeremy 3 mths ago
        Jack I am glad somebody else picked up on this as well as me! Its not just Mars,but the warming effect is on ALL planets as far as Neptune I believe. Although they haven't got a great deal of historical data so its difficult to extrapolate.. Sorry Repeat you have Offended again :-) this information was direct from NASA and ESA..
    • emilian a
      emilian a  •  Clermont, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      According to NASA the solar activity has declined. The total rolar energy output has decreased by about 0.02%. The solar wind has slowed down, exerting less pressure, the heliosphere has declined by about 25% for the last 20 years. What does this mean? More cosmic rays will reach the global magnetic field of our planet and will trigger auroras.
      • Jeremy
        Jeremy 3 mths ago
        Yes Emilian the Sun peaked in its activity 2 years ago after an extra long dormant period and is expected to go into an extra long quiet period ,so this is VERY surprising!
      • emilian a
        emilian a 3 mths ago
        in late 1990 NASA and the ESA sent a probe into space called Ulysses. It was sent there to monitor aspects of the Sun's activity. it was collecting valuable data, which was analyzed by NASA and ESA. The data was disturbing. The solar activity has been declining steadily since 1990. In 2008 NASA sent a much more sophisticated probe called IBEX to "listen" to the heliosphere. The results confirm the data from Ulyssses.
        NASA does not have any explanation as to why the Sun is declining so rapidly. One thing is for sure, if this process is not reversed the heliopshere will be soon 50% of its original size. It will no longer repel 90% of the cosmic rays. This is certainly a recipe for something that would profoundly change everything...
    • Arbutus Dave
      Arbutus Dave  •  3 mths ago
      Well I'm pretty sure that energy is conserved.....
    • J.Jay
      J.Jay  •  Richardson, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      They seem stunned because they say they should have seen it comming? I dont really believe we can see or know everything...so dont be surprised science guys when #$%$ just happens.
    • anthony
      anthony  •  Syracuse, New York  •  3 mths ago
      HAARP in Alaska
    • dave m
      dave m  •  Denver, Colorado  •  3 mths ago
      Cant wait for the conspiracy theorists to blame this on HAARP or Niburu/Elenin.
      • Gregory
        Gregory 3 mths ago
        Great plot for another crappy movie
      • david a
        david a 3 mths ago
        What makes you think that the world's most powerful array of radio antennae could not trigger an Auroral event? My "theory" is that HAARP actually exists, and it is administered by the Air Force. I think those crackpots over at Popular Science reported on it back in 1993. The crackpost in the Alaska Academic Establishment claim it is up and running. Billy Mitchell was a crackpot in the Air Force who went to jail because he would not renounce his crackpot ideas. Let's not forget the stunning displays when F22 Raptors crush the moisture out of the air. The Air Force would never cheat and ionize the air just to make their fighters look better.
      • david a
        david a 3 mths ago
        By the way, I never knew Niburu was also referred to as Elenin. Thanks for the heads up.
    • Jimbob
      Jimbob  •  3 mths ago
      Could it be that our magnetic field is starting to go haywire?
    • danielg
      danielg  •  Las Vegas, Nevada  •  3 mths ago
      Geez,,This is physics 101. Something is breaking the earths magnetic flux,and they haven't figured this out yet??
    • cantdrive85
      cantdrive85  •  Denver, Colorado  •  3 mths ago
      The Sun's ion output (solar wind) is variable, and even a slight increase in ion output will affect the Earth and other planets as well. In addition, as these ions continue to interact in the atmosphere they affect weather patterns globally.
    • Rustin
      Rustin  •  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  •  3 mths ago
      ITS HAARP
    • safeinthewoods
      safeinthewoods  •  3 mths ago
      Earth Changes ... ready or not, here they come ...
     Post a comment
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