Observations of Uranus in 2006 detected infrared auroras on that distant ice giant planet. They may help us understand similar exoplanets.
A simulation of the infrared auroras at Uranus. Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Showalter for the background image of Uranus
Auroras happen when charged particles in the solar wind and near-planet environment get trapped by a planet’s magnetic field. They funnel down to the atmosphere and collide with gas molecules. This happens on Earth and we see auroras over the north and south poles of our planet. They also happen at other planets. Astronomers detect them on the other giant planets, and a smaller version of them occurs on Mars.
A NASA computer simulation of a reversal. The tubes represent magnetic field lines . Earth’s rotation axis is centered and vertical. The dense clusters of lines are within the Earth’s core.
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