More news from the American Geophysical Union Meeting:
Last February, NASA launched the Themis mission, five satellites that loiter in the upper reaches of our atmosphere. The satellites take measurements that will help scientists figure out how space storms energize those dazzling light shows known as auroras. The first results are in.
From the AP story:
New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth's upper atmosphere to the sun.
The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights, said principal investigator Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California at Los Angeles.
