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Article Images

Cluster and Double Star uncover more on bright aurorae

10 September 2007

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The diagram shows all 11 spacecraft of the Cluster, Double Star and THEMIS missions orbiting the Earth. All three missions are studying the environment of Earth's magnetosphere.

Credits: ESA

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These are photos of the aurora before and during a substorm. The first image is the typical appearance of the aurora before a substorm. During a substorm, the single auroral ribbon may split into several ribbons (second image) or even break into bunches that race north and south (third and last image).

Credits: Jan Curtis

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Auroral brightnening due to substorms over Canada

Credits: Canadian Space Agency/ University of Calgary

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These images show the aurora as seen by an ultraviolet imager onboard the NASA's IMAGE spacecraft.

On each of the three images taken at 10:44 11:32 and 11:41 CEST on 26 September 2005, localised auroral brightenings are clearly visible. These auroral brightenings are related to the three substorms onset captured in space by Cluster (CL), Double Star TC2 but also GOES10 (G10), Los Alamos National Laboratory 084 spacecraft (LANL084) and the American Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F15. The projection into the ionosphere of the position of these spacecraft has been overplotted in white in the topmost image.

Credits: St. Petersburg state university (V. Sergeev), data from IMAGE/NASA

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