Aurora is not only found on planets and some moons, but now also on a comet. That reported the American space agency NASA Monday, after scientists study images taken by the Rosetta spacecraft.
It is the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P / CG). The comet has its own aurora borealis, the phenomenon caused by solar flares.
In violent solar winds, a stream of charged particles escapes from the surface of the sun. These electromagnetic particles can produce a red or blue glow when they reach the atmosphere of a celestial body.
It has already been seen that the light from the sun is deflected from 67P / CG. On closer examination, however, it appeared that the light was created by the solar particles reacting to the gas in the nebula cloud around the comet’s core. The result is ultraviolet light beams that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but can be seen with specialized instruments.
This discovery could shed light on how solar winds affect space travel and protect satellites and spacecraft.
Aurora can also be seen on planets and moons
Aurora is not only found on our earth. Earlier it was discovered that Saturn, Uranus and Mars also know the phenomenon, just like Jupiter and even on some of its moons. It is the first time that the phenomenon has also been established on a comet.
On Earth, the Northern Lights and Southern Lights only occur at the poles, because the particles are guided to the poles by the Earth’s magnetic field.
67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko was Rosetta’s end goal. This space probe from the European space agency ESA was launched in 2004 and reached the comet in 2014.
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