11/5/2003: Aurora from space (II)

This is part two of the aurora shots -- excellent stuff Bitman on yesterday's guesses, but not quite what Elspode sent along.

We had another aurora from space almost two years ago so this is now a recurring topic, along with the already-recurring topic of interesting satellite shots. This one comes from space.com's image of the day

Cool Picture UT, There has been a band of bad weather moving across just south of that bright band. I wonder if there's a correlation?

I doubt it. Weather patterns are established long before the aurora/sun activity makes it to earth.

OK, but what about the other way around. Could the Aurora be delineated by the weathers systems? Weather systems have electrical properties that could maybe cause an effect. I don't know, I'm just wondering?

I'm not really qualified to answer, so my guess is as good as yours....that said, I am a believer in entropy, so there is likely some interaction between the weather and the aurora, but it is likely quite minimal in either direction. Now it could really goof with the Earth's magnetic field, although it is more likely that our magnetic field goofs more with the aurora.

I have never seen an aurora borealis, but I imagine it is a similar experience to pouring a bit of motor oil into a clean toilet bowl and looking at it from an angle. No, I've never done that.

There are a lot of good picture on the net but few illustrate its transparency. Especially the curtain type.