William Atkins
Monday, 07 July 2008 18:55
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
J. Dana Hrubes, the science leader of the Amundsen-Scott Station, has taken some great pictures of the aurora australia, more commonly called the southern lights, at the geographic South Pole (90 degrees south latitude). They are literally “cool” pictures!
The polar lights (aurorae) are natural light displays in the sky (usually at night), which occur primarily in the polar regions of Earth.
They occur in the ionosphere, but we can see them here on the surface of Earth.
In the northern polar region the aurora display is called the aurora borealis. The southern polar region contains the aurora australis.
Both are usually seen on Earth as a greenish glow, sometimes with some reddish hints.
On July 5, 2008, with the air temperature around -84 degrees Fahrenheit (just under -64 degrees Celsius), Research engineer
James Dana Hrubes commented, "
… we had a nice display of aurora australis on July 5th.”
The
SpaceWeather.com article “South Pole Auroras” stated,
“Just before he took the picture, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth tipped south, opening a crack in our planet's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and fueled the auroras."
Hrubes added,
"That's Jupiter shining just above the silhouette of the South Pole Telescope.”
Please turn the page for great pictures of the aurora australia.
