On supporting science journalism
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.
Data collected from two NASA spacecraft have revealed that Earth's northern and southern auroras are not simply mirror images of one another, as previously believed.
Nearly circular bands, called auroral ovals, surround both poles of our planet. They result from the interaction between Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, and energized particles from the solar wind that emit light in the upper atmosphere. A research team led by Timothy J. Stubbs of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center analyzed images from NASA's Polar spacecraft and the IMAGE spacecraft taken of both the northern (aurora borealis) and southern (aurora australis) lights. "This is the first analysis to use simultaneous observations of the whole aurora in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres to track their locations," Stubbs remarks.
During the study period, the researchers noted that the auroras tilted and changed based on how the planet's magnetic field is oriented toward the sun. "Because Earth's magnetic field is not a perfect dipole," Stubbs says, "we think this fact plays some role in causing the auroras to not be mirror images of each other."
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
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
