Aurora Borealis: Solar Wind Meets Magnetosphere (2D)

Solar Wind

Solar-wind speed 420 km/s

Particle density 6 /cm³

Geomagnetic storm (Kp index) 2

Auroral Oval — Polar View

Click anywhere on the map to test aurora visibility at that latitude.

Oval reaches to

64°

Magnetopause

10.5 Rₑ

Precipitating

Dominant color

green

How it works

This is a plan (top-down) view looking straight down over Earth's magnetic north pole — the pole sits at the centre and each concentric ring is a line of magnetic latitude, with the equator far out at the edge. The bright band is the auroral oval: the ring-shaped zone where field lines rooted at L-shells between the current storm boundary and L≈10 fan out and dump solar-wind particles into the upper atmosphere.

Oval boundary latitude uses the same dipole relation as the 3D model: λ = arccos(√(1/L_min)), with L_min shrinking as the Kp index rises — so the ring visibly widens and slides toward the equator during a storm.
Color by altitude: green (atomic oxygen, ~110-150 km) dominates near-quiet conditions; blue/purple (molecular nitrogen, <100 km) and deep red (oxygen, >200 km) grow more common as storm intensity increases and particle energies broaden.
Magnetopause standoff is the same pressure-balance estimate (R ∝ (density·speed²)^-1/6) shown as a readout — a sanity check against the 3D companion simulation, not merely decorative text.

Drag to pan · scroll to zoom · click to test a latitude

O green ~110-150km O red ~200-300km N₂⁺ blue/purple <100km