What business do elves have in the upper atmospheres of gas giants? Plenty, it seems. The enormous ring-shaped phenomena triggered by lightning may occur on Jupiter, Saturn, and exoplanets.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Posted inResearch Spotlights
X Marks the Spot of Magnetic Islands in Space
At the edge of Earth's magnetic field, satellites have found X-shaped fields and fast-moving "islands" of magnetism that could shed light on the physics of solar storms.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Ionosphere Model Incorporates Solar Angles
The decades-old theory of the layers of the Earth's ionosphere, which dates to 1931, has just received an update that takes into account the angle of the Sun.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Particle Accelerator in Space Could Help Scientists Study Auroras
Researchers could launch an electron beam device into space to study the Earth's magnetic field and trigger artificial auroras and lightning.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Shooting Stars and Cosmic Dust Help Form Clouds, Fertilize Plankton
Tons of cosmic dust enter Earth’s atmosphere each day, triggering a range of phenomena that scientists are only just beginning to understand.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Measuring Solar Wind Interactions in Mars’s Exosphere
An updated analytical technique gave researchers a new look at ion cyclotron waves in Mars’s extended hydrogen exosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Model of Earth's Plasmasphere Is Incompatible with Measurements
Researchers find that a model of the Earth’s plasmasphere developed in the 1960s is outdated and inaccurate.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Measuring the Faint Glow of the Earth's Thin Exosphere
Scientists attempting to understand the Earth’s exosphere use a spectrometer to study different types of hydrogen atoms energized by the sun.