Scientists Discover Source Of Solar Storms, Space Weather Behind Northern Lights

Researchers have uncovered discovered the secrets behind solar storms and the  dazzling displays of Earth's northern lights in the Northern Hemisphere.

The new findings by scientists can help predict when solar bursts and flares may occur.

Scientists say they have discovered the source for the cosmic storms in the Earths' magnetic field.

Space physicist Vassilis Angelopoulos from the University of California at Los Angeles said, "We finally found out where the energy comes from that powers the aurora in the space weather."

Researchers discovered that some of the energy emitted by the Sun during solar storms is temporarily stored in Earth's stretched and compressed magnetic field, known as the magnetofield.

Eventually, that solar energy is released in a burst. That release lights up the skies with auroras as well as fueling Earth's radiation belts.

However, previous to now, scientists have been unable to measure the release of the magnetic energy. While it is possible to view solar storms with cameras, the process that unleashes the actual energy had been unknown to scientists for decades until now.

Resarchers were able to measure the event during an alignment of six Earth-orbiting spacecraft and NASA's first dual lunar orbiter mission, ARTEMIS.

They found that space weather starts developing inside Earth's magnetosphere. The magnetosphere is a giant bubble that sheaths the planet from damage from magnetized gas emitted by the Sun.

However, during solar storms, scientists found that solar energy actually stretches the magnetosphere. The bubble is stretched by solar energy into a long, teardrop-shaped tail that can extend more than a million miles into outer space.

The compressed and elongated energy is transferred into our magnetic field, then discharged as magnetic storms. This looks as glowing light shows or the Northern Lights. Similar auroras on the Southern Hemisphere are known as the Southern Lights.

Despite the beauty of the Aurora Borealis, the space weather can also pose hazards to communication systems, GPS errors, power blackouts, and satellite failure.