Uploaded September 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In a solar storm, the Earth's air can puff up due to huge amounts of heat dumped into (via electrical resistance of all things). The ESA Swarm satellites were able to detect this in a storm in 2015 as air below the sats expanded into their path. Note the scale on the right; the density of air tripled, though in an absolute sense they orbit in very near vacuum conditions, just a gram or so of air per *cubic kilometer*. Air on Earth's surface is a trillion times more dense.
Credit: TU Delft
Original video: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2018/04/St._Patrick_s_Day_storm
In a solar storm, the Earth's air can puff up due to huge amounts of heat dumped into (via electrical resistance of all things). The ESA Swarm satellites were able to detect this in a storm in 2015 as air below the sats expanded into their path. Note the scale on the right; the density of air tripled, though in an absolute sense they orbit in very near vacuum conditions, just a gram or so of air per *cubic kilometer*. Air on Earth's surface is a trillion times more dense.
Credit: TU Delft
Original video: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2018/04/St._Patrick_s_Day_storm
