[hwillis]

Any discussion of aurora which do not mention space tornados: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tornado

Is inherently incomplete. Not necessarily because they're needed to explain it, but they do need to be brought up at any time possible because they're cool.

[hnuser123456]

I feel that way about galactic center filaments. They just scream "this region of space is not safe" in the most awe-inspiring way to me. 150-lightyear-long, magnetically powered, speed-of-light tornados. And there's hundreds of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Center_filament

https://science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/milky-way-center-meerkat...

[kulahan]

These are cool. I wonder how much they screw with satellites etc.? How predictable are they? It seems like it's just a deadly, mostly-invisible wall of energy flying around at unbelievable speeds!

[philipwhiuk]

They basically only occur over the poles.