* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Israel’s Entertainment Industry Is Being Targeted by the Left in Hollywood and the Right at Home – The Wall Street Journal

    Inside the Fierce Clash Shaping Israel’s Entertainment Industry: Hollywood vs. Local Voices

    Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

    Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Driving Entertainment and Education – Livability.com

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Transforming Entertainment and Education

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

    Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

    ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    Is Light-Speed Analog Computing the Future of Technology? – BIOENGINEER.ORG

    Could Light-Speed Analog Computing Transform the Future of Technology?

    ARM Institute opens technology project call to speed submarine manufacturing – The Robot Report

    ARM Institute Unveils Cutting-Edge Technology Project to Revolutionize Submarine Manufacturing

    Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. – The New York Times

    Ditch the Cowbells: Discover the High-Tech Collars Transforming Cattle Care

    What the Recent Price Surge Means for Figure Technology Solutions After SEC Settlement – Yahoo Finance

    What the Recent Price Surge Reveals About Figure Technology Solutions Following SEC Settlement

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Israel’s Entertainment Industry Is Being Targeted by the Left in Hollywood and the Right at Home – The Wall Street Journal

    Inside the Fierce Clash Shaping Israel’s Entertainment Industry: Hollywood vs. Local Voices

    Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

    Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Driving Entertainment and Education – Livability.com

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Transforming Entertainment and Education

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

    Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

    ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    Is Light-Speed Analog Computing the Future of Technology? – BIOENGINEER.ORG

    Could Light-Speed Analog Computing Transform the Future of Technology?

    ARM Institute opens technology project call to speed submarine manufacturing – The Robot Report

    ARM Institute Unveils Cutting-Edge Technology Project to Revolutionize Submarine Manufacturing

    Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. – The New York Times

    Ditch the Cowbells: Discover the High-Tech Collars Transforming Cattle Care

    What the Recent Price Surge Means for Figure Technology Solutions After SEC Settlement – Yahoo Finance

    What the Recent Price Surge Reveals About Figure Technology Solutions Following SEC Settlement

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Auroras across the solar system are powered in the same way, Mercury results suggest

July 18, 2023
in Science
Auroras across the solar system are powered in the same way, Mercury results suggest
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Home

News

Science & Astronomy

illustration of a spacecraft studying purplish auroras over the planet mercury, with the blackness of space in the background

Artist’s representation of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission flying through precipitating electrons that can trigger X-ray auroras on the surface of Mercury.
(Image credit: Thibaut Roger/Europlanet (CC BY-SA 4.0))

The way in which the radiant displays of colors in the sky known as auroras form on Earth may be how these lights arise throughout the solar system, according to new findings from Mercury.

On Earth, auroras — also known as the northern and southern lights — result when streams of high-speed particles from the sun, collectively known as the solar wind, slam into our world’s magnetosphere, the shell of electrically charged particles trapped by the planet’s magnetic field.

Mercury, the smallest and least massive of the solar system’s planets, also possesses a magnetosphere. However, its magnetosphere is typically only about 5% the size of Earth’s. This is because the magnetic field of Mercury is less than 1% as strong as our planet’s, Sae Aizawa, a planetary scientist and space plasma physicist at the Institute for Astrophysics and Planetology Research in Toulouse, France, told Space.com.

Related: Aurora colors: What causes them and why do they vary?

diagram showing the bepicolombo probe studying mercury's x-ray aurora

Observations by Mio/BepiColombo during its first Mercury flyby of electrons precipitating towards Mercury’s surface, in correlation with the anticipated locations of X-ray aurorae reported by NASA’s mission. (Image credit: Sae AIZAWA)

The magnetosphere of a planet often acts as a barrier to solar wind flow, in the same way as a boulder in a stream serves as an obstacle to flowing water. However, previous research found that, depending on how Earth and Mercury are oriented with respect to the interplanetary magnetic field from the sun, the magnetospheres of both those planets regularly become open to the solar wind.

On Earth, the entry of the solar wind into the magnetosphere drives the motions of electrons and other electrically charged particles. At the poles, these electric currents flow into the planet’s atmosphere, race down Earth’s magnetic field lines and crash into molecules in the upper atmosphere, generating auroral light.

Previous research detected very high-energy electrons and X-rays from Mercury. However, those studies lacked the tools to monitor the relatively low-energy electrons that usually power auroras.

Now Aizawa and her colleagues have discovered evidence that auroras on Mercury have the same origins as they do on Earth. The results suggest that “these processes are a universal mechanism for aurora generation,” Aizawa said.

In the new study, the scientists analyzed data from the BepiColombo mission, a joint effort from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to study Mercury. Launched in 2018, BepiColombo made its first of six flybys of Mercury in 2021 and is planned to orbit Mercury starting in 2025, making it the first mission to another planet to consist of two satellites.

BepiColombo found that relatively low-energy electrons in Mercury’s magnetosphere can accelerate in the planet’s dawn areas and then get pumped into magnetic field lines on the world’s nightside. Since Mercury has an incredibly tenuous atmosphere compared to Earth’s, these electrons do not strike the air, but instead slam onto Mercury’s surface, generating X-ray auroras.

All in all, although the planets of the solar system differ in many respects from each other, such as the strength of their magnetic fields and the composition of their atmospheres, the way in which electrons can get accelerated at planets to generate auroras appears universal across these worlds, Aizawa said.

The scientists detailed their findings online today (July 18) in the journal Nature Communications.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Charles Q. Choi is a contributing writer for Space.com and Live Science. He covers all things human origins and astronomy as well as physics, animals and general science topics. Charles has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida. Charles has visited every continent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea in Lhasa, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos and even climbing an iceberg in Antarctica. Visit him at http://www.sciwriter.us

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Space.com – https://www.space.com/auroras-similar-cause-throughout-solar-system-mercury-results

Tags: acrossAurorasscience
Previous Post

NASA’s Mars Sample Return in jeopardy after US Senate report

Next Post

‘Meteorite’ that struck French woman was just a regular rock, experts say

IRONMAN World Championship Kona 2025: Date, start time and how to watch live – TRI247

IRONMAN World Championship Kona 2025: Date, start time and how to watch live – TRI247

October 9, 2025
Canada’s economy is in serious trouble. Now Mark Carney is coming to Washington to talk tariffs – CNN

Canada’s economy is in serious trouble. Now Mark Carney is coming to Washington to talk tariffs – CNN

October 9, 2025
Israel’s Entertainment Industry Is Being Targeted by the Left in Hollywood and the Right at Home – The Wall Street Journal

Inside the Fierce Clash Shaping Israel’s Entertainment Industry: Hollywood vs. Local Voices

October 9, 2025
Better Food, Better Health: Redefining Chronic Disease Care Through Nutrition – The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®)

Better Food, Better Health: Redefining Chronic Disease Care Through Nutrition – The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®)

October 9, 2025
WATCH: ‘Come and get me,’ Pritzker responds to Trump’s call to put Illinois governor in jail – PBS

WATCH: ‘Come and get me,’ Pritzker responds to Trump’s call to put Illinois governor in jail – PBS

October 9, 2025
New Method to Monitor Wild Reindeer Populations Could Boost Conservation Efforts – Bioengineer.org

New Method to Monitor Wild Reindeer Populations Could Boost Conservation Efforts – Bioengineer.org

October 8, 2025
Scientists just proved the moai could walk, solving a 500-year mystery – ScienceDaily

Scientists Finally Reveal How the Moai Statues Could “Walk,” Solving a 500-Year Mystery

October 8, 2025
GenoPalate Advances Its Science Again With Diet Snapshot – Yahoo Finance

GenoPalate Advances Its Science Again With Diet Snapshot – Yahoo Finance

October 8, 2025
Horses making the rounds at Florida hospitals – The Union Democrat

Horses Bringing Joy and Healing to Florida Hospitals

October 8, 2025
ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

October 8, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (858)
  • Economy (879)
  • Entertainment (21,752)
  • General (17,490)
  • Health (9,921)
  • Lifestyle (891)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (880)
  • Politics (890)
  • Science (16,089)
  • Sports (21,379)
  • Technology (15,859)
  • World (862)

Recent News

IRONMAN World Championship Kona 2025: Date, start time and how to watch live – TRI247

IRONMAN World Championship Kona 2025: Date, start time and how to watch live – TRI247

October 9, 2025
Canada’s economy is in serious trouble. Now Mark Carney is coming to Washington to talk tariffs – CNN

Canada’s economy is in serious trouble. Now Mark Carney is coming to Washington to talk tariffs – CNN

October 9, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version