Nordlys

Standard memberCrowley
Science 06 Oct '08 14:32
  1. Standard memberCrowley
    Not Aleister
    Control room
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    17 Apr '02
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    91813
    06 Oct '08 14:32
    Will you be seeing much more activity now?

    http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0810/304erupt_rt_crop1024_med.mov
  2. The sky
    Joined
    05 Apr '05
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    06 Oct '08 22:52
    Originally posted by Crowley
    Will you be seeing much more activity now?

    http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0810/304erupt_rt_crop1024_med.mov
    That's beautiful. Unfortunately this wasn't fired in our direction, so it didn't help for the aurora. There isn't much happening; we are still deeply in the solar minimum.
  3. Joined
    23 Mar '06
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    20827
    08 Oct '08 03:57
    Originally posted by Nordlys
    That's beautiful. Unfortunately this wasn't fired in our direction, so it didn't help for the aurora. There isn't much happening; we are still deeply in the solar minimum.
    Would it be safe to say that the northern lights are produced by electrons attracted to the earth's North pole (actually has a + charge) and the southern lights are produced by protons attracted to the earth's South pole (- charge)?
  4. Joined
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    08 Oct '08 04:53
    Originally posted by mlprior
    Would it be safe to say that the northern lights are produced by electrons attracted to the earth's North pole (actually has a + charge) and the southern lights are produced by protons attracted to the earth's South pole (- charge)?
    Doesn't seem to be right to me...
  5. The sky
    Joined
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    08 Oct '08 10:16
    Originally posted by mlprior
    Would it be safe to say that the northern lights are produced by electrons attracted to the earth's North pole (actually has a + charge) and the southern lights are produced by protons attracted to the earth's South pole (- charge)?
    I guess it would be safe to say (i.e. you probably won't be persecuted, shot or hung for it), but it isn't correct. 😉 The aurora borealis (the Northern lights) and the aurora australis (the Southern lights) are produced in the same way (and in fact they are almost mirror images of each other). I am no physicist and never got very deeply into the physics of the aurora, so I'll leave the explanations to more knowledgeable people: http://www.imv.uit.no/english/science/publicat/waynorth/wn1/contents.htm (4. and 5. are the most relevant parts in this context).
  6. Joined
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    14 Oct '08 22:39
    Originally posted by mlprior
    Would it be safe to say that the northern lights are produced by electrons attracted to the earth's North pole (actually has a + charge) and the southern lights are produced by protons attracted to the earth's South pole (- charge)?
    magnetic fields are caused by moving charge, and any moving charge whether positive or negative will create magnetic lines of force which could be viewed as north and south. so it is not correct to consider a north pole or a south pole as having a particular electric charge.
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