Northern Lights Research

From the NASA press release: "Researchers using a fleet of five NASA satellites have discovered that explosions of magnetic energy a third of the way to the moon power substorms that cause sudden brightenings and rapid movements of the aurora borealis, called the Northern Lights."

NASA has posted an article summarizing the research on the Northern Lights conducted by THEMIS Satellites. The THEMIS mission page includes a summary of the project, multimedia and animation, and an archived version of the teleconference announcing the findings.

Source: Hadhazy , A. (24 July 2008). "Mystery of Why Northern Lights "Dance" May Be Solved: NASA satellites find an explosion of magnetic energy reaching a third of the way to the moon intensifies the polar phenomenon." Scientific American.