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uly marvelous sights to behold if you are ever lucky enough to encounter them. On Earth, these colorful light shows occur in the North and South poles (the Arctic and Antarctic) when powerful solar winds penetrate the magnetosphere and carry a stream of charged particles into the upper atmosphere. These electrons and protons then interact with nitrogen and oxygen in the air, resulting in a stunning display of colorful lights. Other planets in our solar system such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have also demonstrated some version of auroras, but this phenomenon had not yet been recorded on a celestial object other than a planet or moon, until now. Scientists belonging to the European Space Agency Rosetta Orbiter Mission made a surprising discovery when they detected a far-ultraviolet aurora on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the first non-planet or moon to display Northern Lights. NASA instruments aboard the Rosetta spacecraft made significant contributions to this finding, as the data retrieved from the tools proved that the comet’s glow was the product of charged particles interacting with the gases surrounding it. The Ion and Electron Sensor (IES) identified the amount and intensity of electrons near the Rosetta orbiter, while the Alice instrument measured the ultraviolet light emissions given off by the aurora, and finally, the Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO) calculated the sum of water molecules around comet 67P/C-G. Other instruments including the Italian Space Agency’s Visible and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), the Swedish Langmuir Probe (LAP), and the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) also aided in the research. Scientists believe that studying the 67P/C-G aurora further will uncover more details about the conditions in space which are constantly affected by solar winds. Such information about the Sun’s radiation would prove quite useful for future missions and for astronauts travelling around in our solar system. ☄️ Image Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Auroras, commonly referred to as Northern or Southern Lights, are tr