NASA實習生發(fā)現(xiàn)由地磁風暴引起的新型北極光

NASA實習生發(fā)現(xiàn)由地磁風暴引起的新型北極光

A NASA intern has discovered a strange and unexpected type of northern lights.

美國國家航空航天局的一名實習生發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種奇怪的、意想不到的北極光。

The physics student was looking over three-year-old sky observations from all-sky cameras in Svakbard, Norway, when she spotted the famous natural lights moving in a never-before seen spiral.

這名物理學專業(yè)的學生，在挪威斯瓦克巴德(Svakbard)用全天空攝像機觀察三年前的天空時，發(fā)現(xiàn)著名的自然光以從未見過的螺旋狀移動。

This newly observed spiral motion is said to make the lights look similar to a seashell.

據(jù)說，這種新發(fā)現(xiàn)的螺旋運動使光線看起來像貝殼。

People travel from far and wide to try and get a good glimpse of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights.

人們從四面八方趕來，想要一睹北極光的風采。

They are famed for being a greenish celestial spectacle dancing in the sky and are best observed in places like Norway and Finland.

它們以在天空中舞動的綠色天空奇觀而聞名，在挪威和芬蘭等地最適合觀賞。

Each light display is known as an aurora and they are also referred to as the southern lights and polar lights, depending on where they are observed.

每一個光顯示被稱為極光，它們也被稱為南極光和極地光，這取決于它們被觀察到的地方。

Pepperdine University physics student Jennifer Briggs spotted the oddly twisting aurora while interning at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

佩珀代因大學物理系的學生珍妮弗·布里格斯在馬里蘭州NASA戈達德太空飛行中心實習時，發(fā)現(xiàn)了奇怪的極光。

What makes them even more unusual is that the footage she spotted them on was recorded at a time of relatively calm space weather.

讓它們更不尋常的是，她發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的鏡頭是在太空天氣相對平靜的時候拍攝的。

Solar eruptions normally cause auroral activity when energetic particles speed from the sun and react in the Earth’s atmosphere.

當高能粒子從太陽加速并在地球大氣中發(fā)生反應(yīng)時，太陽爆發(fā)通常會引起極光活動。

However, the twisting motions of the aurora and other data from NASA radars on the ground in Norway have indicated that something else caused the unusual light display.

然而，極光的扭轉(zhuǎn)運動和來自挪威地面上美國宇航局雷達的其他數(shù)據(jù)表明，是其他原因?qū)е铝诉@種不尋常的光顯示。

Briggs presented her findings at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

布里格斯在舊金山舉行的美國地球物理聯(lián)盟會議上發(fā)表了她的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

She explained how a dramatic compression of the Earth’s magnetosphere was observed in data collected around the same time as the unusual light display.

她解釋了地球磁氣圈的劇烈壓縮是如何在與不尋常的光顯示同時收集的數(shù)據(jù)中被觀察到的。

Briggs said: “You can imagine someone punching Earth’s magnetic field.

布里格斯說:“你可以想象有人擊打地球的磁場。”

“There was a massive, but localized compression.”

“這是一次大規(guī)模的局部壓縮。”

She added: “Not only have we never seen a compression of this intensity, we’ve never even predicted one.”

她補充道:“我們不僅從未見過這種強度的壓縮，甚至從未預(yù)測過。”

Nasa researchers think the type of compression that caused it only happened over the single Norwegian island.

美國國家航空航天局的研究人員認為，造成這種情況的壓縮類型只發(fā)生在挪威的一個島嶼上。

They think it may have been caused by a geomagnetic storm happening for the first time in an area of the Earth’s magnetosphere called the foreshock.

他們認為，這可能是由于在地球磁氣圈的前震區(qū)域首次發(fā)生的地磁暴引起的。

This is why the new type of celestial light display is being called a “foreshock aurora”.

這就是為什么這種新的天體光顯示被稱為“前震極光”的原因。