Alberto Pepe edited Eclipse Science.tex  about 9 years ago

Commit id: 8318bb60ff046fdb115f7aed6d591a6aced30b3c

deletions | additions      

       

Aurora, or northern lights, is mostly known for its manifestation during the night at high latitudes, being a consequence of high-energy particles accelerated towards the terrestrial magnetic poles in the nightside of the terrestrial magnetosphere. Nevertheless, some particles are injected by the interplanetary magnetic field also in the dayside Earth magnetospheres, so generating the dayside aurora. Still, the presence of sunlight makes difficult to observe such phenomenon. Observation of dayside aurora have been carried out during the eclipse at \href{http://kho.unis.no}{KHO observatory}, a few kilometers away from Longyearbyen.  However, no northern light was visible with naked eye during the 2015 Svalbard eclipse. The eclipse was, in fact, quite luminous and the sky did not get too dark. The reason being that the Sun was very low - 11 degrees - on the horizon, and the white landscape was scattering large amounts of light. In general the Arctic is full of exciting, fascinating phenomena. For example, did you know that amazing \href{http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/04/frost-flower-garden.html}{frost flowers} can appear when \href{http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Supercooled_Water_Droplets}{supercooled water droplets} come in contact with sea ice? I am currently attending interesting seminars and field excursions on the characteristics of snowflakes and the remote sensing of the cryosphere. Arctic science, I feel, will soon provide us with some new insights on the exploration of extraterrestrial worlds.  \textbf{What kind of science do you do when you're not chasing eclipses and running from polar bears?}\\  In the past I've been looking into the generation of magnetic fields in stars and galaxies, as well as the physics of northern lights.  At the moment my research focuses on exoplanets and the characterization of their magnetic fields. Who knows, perhaps polar bears dwell on other planets too!