Magnetic vortices explain mysterious auroral beads

One solar stormy day in November 2018, 13 spacecraft including ESA’s Cluster mission were in the right place at the right time to spot a process that has never been seen in its entirety before. Their observations explain how vortices at the edge of Earth’s magnetosphere can cause auroral beads to dot the sky a hundred thousand kilometres below:

1. The solar wind 'blows' across the magnetopause, rolling it up into giant whirlpool-like vortices
2. Electrons enter the magnetosphere through the vortices and travel down towards the upper atmosphere
3. In the upper atmosphere, electrons collide with hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, causing auroral beads to glow in the sky

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