Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
An animation of how an aurora is generated by the solar wind and a comet’s coma. Electrons form the Sun stream away in the solar wind. Ionized atoms around the comet create an electric field that accelerates the solar electrons. They slam into water that's escaped from the comet, breaking it up into hydrogen and oxygen, which then glow in the ultraviolet: an aurora.
Credit: ESA
Original video: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Unique_ultraviolet_aurora_spied_at_Rosetta_s_comet
An animation of how an aurora is generated by the solar wind and a comet’s coma. Electrons form the Sun stream away in the solar wind. Ionized atoms around the comet create an electric field that accelerates the solar electrons. They slam into water that's escaped from the comet, breaking it up into hydrogen and oxygen, which then glow in the ultraviolet: an aurora.
Credit: ESA
Original video: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Unique_ultraviolet_aurora_spied_at_Rosetta_s_comet
