Space and Earth Sciences News

Cluster has spent a decade revealing previously hidden interactions between the Sun and Earth. Its studies have uncovered secrets of the aurora, solar storms, and given us insight into fundamental processes that occur across the Universe. And there is more work to do. The aurora, those dancing lights in the polar skies, are but the visible manifestation of an invisible battle taking place above our heads. Supersonic particles from the Sun collide with our planet?s magnetic field every day. Most are deflected away but some are trapped by Earth?s magnetism and accelerated to collide with the atmosphere, creating the aurora, the planet?s radiation belts and from time to time large magnetic storms worldwide.In its decade studying this activity, Cluster has discovered giant magnetic whirlpools injecting new particles into Earth?s field, huge ?holes? in the uppermost atmosphere that create black regions in the visible aurora, and magnetic dead spots called nulls that form just as the magnetic landscape of space is

"Cluster has shown us a previously hidden world of new details," says Philippe Escoubet, ESA Cluster Mission Manager.
"We are doing astrophysics close to home," says David Southwood, ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, "Beyond the solar system is an enormous Universe, filled with uncountable stars.