A whitish, gray patch that sometimes appears in the night sky alongside the northern lights has been explained for the first time by researchers at the University of Calgary.
The article, which was published on Dec. 30 in the journal Nature Communications, explores a “structured continuum emission” that’s associated with aurora borealis.
“You’d see this dynamic green aurora, you’d see some of the red aurora in the background and, all of a sudden, you’d see this structured—almost like a patch—gray-toned or white toned-emission connected to the aurora,” says Dr. Emma Spanswick, Ph.D., lead author on the paper and an associate professor with the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science.
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