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ESA Discovers Comet With Aurora Lights
Rosetta space probe's discovery has been revealed by a recent paper. Read more to find out about the unique shimmering comet.
Science & Tech
It turns out that auroras are not indigenous to the planets and moons anymore. Step aside giant celestial bodies, a unique comet is on the way.
Thanks to ESA's Rosetta mission, which ended on September 30, 2016, we are now aware of comet67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's aurora lights. The ultraviolet aurora is really similar to those on Earth, Jupiter and its moons, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Mars, reports NASA.
NASA's instruments aboard Rosetta contributed to this discovery with the data they obtained. As a first-time finding, this significant exploration was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The gas in the comet's nucleus interacts with electrons coming out from the Sun through a solar wind and ultimately this interaction chips off the water and other molecules, releasing atoms of far-ultraviolet light.