The Milky-Way and Aurora Australis
Some of the most wonderful pictures taken by astronauts from space are of aurora dancing over our planet. Now the photos are more than just pretty pictures thanks to an ESA project that makes them scientifically usable. Aurora offer a visual means to study space weather, the conditions in the upper regions of our atmosphere. These colourful displays are produced when electrically charged particles from the Sun in the solar wind are channelled along Earth's magnetic field lines and strike atoms high in the atmosphere. Just as the Sun is instrumental to the weather on Earth, solar activity influences space weather, which in turn can interfere with radio transmissions, satellites and even our electricity supply. From above and below - and straight through. Scientists study space weather and aurora using satellites such as ESA's Cluster and Proba-2 but also through a network of cameras on the ground.
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