Sun  ID: 13514

The Cusp Aurora

Released on December 20, 2019
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A conceptual animation showing electrons traveling down Earth's magnetic field lines, colliding into oxygen atoms in Earth's atmosphere and causing oxygen molecules to escape and release red light causing the cusp aurora.
 

Used Elsewhere In

Why NASA is sending rockets into Earth’s leaky atmosphere

Related

Solar Wind Interacting with Earth's Magnetic Field
Sounding Rocket Animations
VISIONS-2 Aurora Imagery

Credits

Bailee DesRocher (USRA): Animator
Joy Ng (USRA): Producer
Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase): Producer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13514

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Magnetic Fields
SVS >> Oxygen
NASA Science >> Sun
SVS >> Atmospheric Loss
SVS >> Aurora
SVS >> Grand Challenge
SVS >> Cusp Aurora
SVS >> Polar Cusp
SVS >> VISIONS-2