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physicist are passing stoked to share definitive evidence that theaurora borealis — that colorful sky glow also known as the northerly light — is the consequence of gnarly negatron " surfboarding " across the cosmos on powerful political party moving ridge . The squad ’s determination were published June 7 in the totally cannular science journalNature Communications .
Scientists have known for a while that the aurora happens when brace particles from the sunlight soar across space and crash intoEarth ’s magnetosphere . Those energized particles ride our planet’smagnetic fieldlines into the upper air , where they clash withoxygenandnitrogenmolecules , releasing dazzlingly bleached visible light in the process .
An illustration shows how electrons descend from space on Alfven waves to create the aurora borealis.
But there ’s still a big , lingering question about the break of day process : How do those solar particles beak up enough fastness and energy to go down into Earth ’s atmosphere with such force ?
One pop explanation regard Alfven waves — powerful geomagnetic waves that propagate through plasma , a charged flatulency that makes up solar winds .
come to : Aurora exposure : northerly light dazzle in dark - sky images
These wave can piece up stray electrons inplasmaand accelerate them to exceedingly high speeds ( faster than 45 million mph , or 72 million km / h ) without knocking them off course . blank - based official document have observe Alfven waves traveling toward Earth above sunrise , but scientist lack a definitive way of try these waves were accelerating negatron — until now .
In the new sketch , researchers used an instrument called the Large Plasma machine ( LPD ) — a 65 - foot - long ( 20 meters long ) vacuum chamber at UCLA that ’s capable of holding a magnetic battlefield — to animate Alfven waves under condition similar to those in solar winds . The team appraise the velocity of negatron moving through the blood plasma chamber , and they find that a small act of electrons were indeed being quicken to not bad speed by the waves .
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The consequence on the electrons was " similar to a surfer catch a wave and being continually accelerated as the surfboarder move along with the wafture , " study co - writer Greg Howes , an associate professor of physics at the University of Iowa , state in a statement .
The squad ’s experimental result array absolutely with mathematical models and figurer simulations of this wave - channel-surf outcome , ply the first " classical " proof that Alfven wafture are powering the northern lights , according to the researchers . Cowabunga !
Originally published on Live Science .
