They have got to be kidding Please read,
http://www.informationweek.com/news/har ... =209601084
"Researchers have discovered that explosions of magnetic energy a third of the way to the moon power substorms that create the Northern Lights.
Five NASA satellites helped researchers pinpoint how sudden brightening and rapid movements of the aurora borealis take place. NASA said this week that researchers believe stressed magnetic field lines suddenly snap to a new shape, like a rubber band that's been stretched too far, during a process called magnetic reconnection. "
With all the money we give these "scientists" shouldn't they produce this effect conclusively in a labaratory setting before they write this "stuff"
At the very end we have an interesting piece that slipped through the censors:
"Recently, the satellites observed an isolated substorm beginning in space, as the observatories recorded the lights and currents over North America. That lent support to the theory that magnetic reconnection causes substorms, NASA said. The theory is that when a substorm begins, it follows a pattern that includes reconnection, rapid auroral brightening, and rapid expansion toward the Earth's poles. That, in turn, redistributes electrical currents flowing in space and around the Earth."
That ending made me chuckle: Redistribution of electrical currents flowing in space, maybe they have been reading Thunderbolts.info,