magnetic pole

Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.

They also found that these changes were synchronised with changes in the white dwarf's magnetic field, indicating that this metal scar is located on one of its magnetic poles.

This is distinct from the northernmost magnetic pole, which is the point where Earth's magnetic field points vertically downward, although the two locations are relatively close to each other.

The northern lights appear in a region around the earth’s magnetic pole, called the “auroral oval” or “auroral zone”, explains Don Hampton, research associate professor at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.