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How Auroras Would Look Like on `Hot Jupiters`

25.07.2011 [11:48]
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Baku, July 25 (AZERTAC). Polar lights here on Earth are amazing spectacles, but they can only be noticed from a few, difficult-to-access regions. Inspired by these sights, a group of experts decided to investigate how these phenomena would look like on a class of extrasolar planets called hot Jupiters.

Here on Earth, the intensity of the Northern and Southern Lights are dictated by the amount of charged solar particles that make their way into our planet`s atmosphere. We are located one astronomical unit away from the star, the equivalent of about 93 million miles.

Whenever a large solar flare or coronal mass ejection occurs, auroras brighten, but they still remain confined to areas around the pole. This is most definitely not the case on hot Jupiters, experts say.