2003 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| 2003 SEC HIGHLIGHTS: A YEAR OF RECORD BREAKING FLARES | G03-014 | 01/1/04 | 00:72:35 | While entering the quiet period of its 11-year cycle of activity, the Sun produced the most powerful flare ever seen. Large sunspots in late October/early November unleashed 11 flares in only 14 days - equaling the total number observed during the previous year. The largest was classified as X-28; it only brushed past Earth (the 1989 flare that knocked out power in Quebec was about half as strong). Still, some radio blackouts disrupted communication some spacecraft were put into "safe-mode" to protect against intense radiation. Aurora were seen in Arizona, Virginia, Florida, etc. Normally, X-6 flares are considered large.
The year also brought discoveries - cracks in Earth's magnetic shield, and controversies - whether or not the Voyager spacecraft has started to pierce the bubble of our solar system and enter interstellar space. The rare Mercury Transit in May provided practice for the even more rare Venus Transit, to occur in June 2004. Within each slate are the spacecraft(s) and its respective instrument listed within brackets. Acronyms are spelled out at the end and available on the GTV web site (http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gtv.html). |
TAPE CONTENTS: |
| STAR OF THE SHOW
ITEM (1): Multi-Mission View of the Sun - In this new and unique view, images from five instruments on three separate satellites are combined in one frame. With so many coordinated spacecraft datasets and so many diverse assignments, this visualization is striking in that it lines up the data to provide a radical view of one solar event from sunspot to flare to the X-rays pinpointed on that flare to the CME billowing out into space. [SOHO / MDI, EIT, LASCO; TRACE; RHESSI]
Courtesy: NASA / ESA / LMSAL
ITEM (2): Full-Disk View With Soundtrack - At 93 million miles away, the effects of the Sun on Earth are unquestionable. It is coronal mass ejections blasting billions of tons of plasma into our magnetosphere with the potential to disturb space systems, power grids and communications. It is also a continuous input of radiation into the lower atmosphere to heat the planet. About 109 times the diameter of the Earth, the Sun is still providing scientists with a hotbed of mysteries to solve. This audio was derived from 40 days' worth of compressed vibrations and frequency sped up some 42,000 times. [SOHO / EIT]
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
ITEM (3): Amazing Changing Sun (G00-102) - To recap, solar maximum is considered to be the 2-3 year peak period (2000-2001 marked the peak of this cycle) when the Sun's activity is most complex and turbulent, and the space around Earth is most disturbed. The Sun's seasonal cycle is 11 years and is marked by disturbances to Earth known as coronal mass ejections and an increase in sunspots from a maximum of 200 to a minimum of a few dozen per month. Shown are the dramatic changes on the Sun from solar minimum in 1996 to maximum in 2000. [SOHO / EIT]
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
ITEM (4): Fountains of Fire (G01-006) - Close-up images of the Sun reveal an extremely active surface with structures of hot electrified gas ejections called coronal loops. These loops constantly emerge and disappear all over the Sun's surface and can span a length of about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) or about 30 times the diameter of Earth. At times one or more of the loops "snap open" in the form of a mass coronal ejection or CME, releasing gas and particles out into space. [TRACE]
Courtesy: NASA/LMSAL
ITEM (5): Sunspots (G01-066) - Sunspots appear dark because they are cooler than the solar surface due to a strong magnetic field that traps the Sun's core heat from traveling to the surface like a bottleneck. The average sunspot is about 4500 degrees C, while the surroundings are about 6000 degrees C. Sunspots can last for weeks or more and can be as large as 80,000 km (over 6 planet Earths). [SOHO / MDI]
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
ITEM (6): How Do Active Regions Form? (G01-084) - Scientists know that the solar explosions called flares are driven by distorted magnetic fields that suddenly snap to a new, less energetic configuration, and that active regions are sites of strong magnetic fields. By peering beneath the surface of AR 9393, scientists found that such regions are comprised of many small magnetic structures that rise quickly from deep within the Sun. Other magnetic structures replenish these as they emerge, which makes the active region, home to sunspots, grow. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (7): What is The Aurora? (G02-037) - Plasma from solar storms hit the Earth's magnetic field, ejecting oxygen ions from the polar ionosphere (highest layer of the upper atmosphere). The ions flow along Earth's magnetic field lines until pressure from the solar wind stretches the field toward the night-side of the Earth like a rubber band. When the stretching is too great, the night-side magnetosphere snaps back toward the Earth, carrying the ejected ions from the ionosphere with it like an enormous slingshot. These ions, now about 2,500 mps, appear immediately in the aurora and cloud of hot plasma that encircles the Earth during space storms. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (8): Why Do We See Reds in the Sky? - Auroras are caused by collisions between fast-moving electrons and the oxygen and nitrogen residing in Earth's upper atmosphere. The electrons, which come from the magnetosphere, the region of space buffering Earth from solar storms, transfer energy to the gases, making them "excited." As they "calm down" and return to their normal state, they emit photons, small bursts of energy in the form of light. Oxygen produces a greenish-yellow or red light; nitrogen generally gives off a blue or dark red light.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (9): What Shields The Earth? - The energy of the solar wind shapes and impacts Earth's magnetic field, its magnetosphere, which originates in the Earth's core. The magnetosphere extends out about 65,000 km (40,000 miles) on the Sun side, and more than ten times that distance on the opposite side, well beyond the Moon's orbit. The exact distances vary considerably with solar activity. When a CME slams into the magnetosphere, most of the plasma is deflected. If it's not, enter the processes that make aurora. [MODEL]
Courtesy: NASA
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| STORM OF THE SOLAR CYCLE (AND MORE!)
ITEM (1): What is a CME? - Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are violent discharges of electrically charged gas from the Sun's corona. The largest explosions in the solar system, CMEs launch up to 10 billion tons of ionized gas into space at speeds of one to two million miles an hour. CMEs can cause magnetic storms by interacting with the Earth's magnetic field, distorting its shape and accelerating electrically charged particles trapped within. As such, they can affect communication systems, power grids and astronauts in space. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (2): The One-Two Punch - It started with a view two unusually large sunspot groups; one was 13 times the surface of the Earth. On Oct. 28 spacecraft tracked an X-17.2 sized flare - the second largest ever observed by SOHO - and arrived early the next day, meaning it was unusually fast as well. That same day that one arrived, an X-10 flare set off another round of particles and another fast-moving CME. X-class flares are the largest classification with C-class as low, M-class as mid; X-6 is considered a large flare. [SOHO/MDI, EIT, LASCO; TRACE]
Courtesy: NASA / ESA / LMSAL
ITEM (3): The Record-Breaking Flare - Just as the giant sunspot rotated away, it blasted off one more enormous flare on Nov. 4. This one saturated spacecraft detectors and was classified as X28 making it the most powerful X-ray flare ever recorded. Only part of the associated CME (traveling at 2300 km/second) was directed toward Earth, resulting in few aurora. All told, three giant sunspots unleashed 11 X-class flares in only 14 days - equaling the total number observed during the previous 12 months. [SOHO/MDI, EIT, LASCO]
Courtesy: NASA / ESA / LMSAL
ITEM (4): Polar Sees Aurora Arrival - Two weeks after the record-setters, the same spot hurled a CME into space resulting in massive aurora visible as far south as Florida Nov. 20. The Polar spacecraft was flying around the South Pole and saw this aurora australis (also known as the Southern Lights). Aurora form when solar particles and magnetic fields pump energy into the Earth's magnetic field, accelerating electrically charged particles trapped within. The high-speed particles crash into Earth's upper atmosphere (ionosphere) over the polar regions, causing the atmosphere to emit a ghostly, multicolored glow. [POLAR/VIS]
Courtesy: NASA / University of Iowa
ITEM (5): Image Spacecraft Spots Glow - Also flying in the South Pole, the IMAGE spacecraft caught these views Nov. 20. This strong aurora australis reached above the island of Tasmania. Ultraviolet light is invisible to the human eye, but can be detected by special instruments like IMAGE. In this pressure pulse aurora, the aurora starts at the point over the Earth closest to the Sun, which is Noon local time. It then spreads out around the globe in opposite directions, towards the dawn and dusk regions. The two portions of the aurora finally meet on the opposite side of the planet, where it is midnight local time, forming a ring. [IMAGE/FUV]
Courtesy: NASA / UC Berkeley
ITEM (6): Formation of an Aurora - The strongest aurora are formed when the magnetic field carried by a cloud of gas from the Sun has a direction oriented opposite to the direction of Earth's magnetic field. The Earth's field points northward, and, in this case, the cloud's field was aligned strongly southward, producing an intense aurora. The year 2003 marks the beginning of solar minimum, likening these two events to a blizzard in the middle of the summer.
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| LATEST OBSERVATIONS
ITEM (1): Mercury Crosses Paths With the Sun (G03-031) - The planet Mercury passed in front of the Sun early May 7 in an unusual event called a 'transit'. The Mercury transit was visible from North America as the Sun rose (a few minutes after 6 am EDT for Washington, DC). Mercury is too small to be seen with the naked eye (only about 1/160 of the Sun's diameter), but spacecraft captured all six hours of the event. Mercury transits occur only about 13 times per century; Venus transits occur in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. Next year, scientists will watch a Venus Transit for the first time since 1882. [TRACE]
Courtesy: NASA / LMSAL
ITEM (2): Mercury Transit Seen by SOHO (G03-031) - From a vantage point one million miles out in space, SOHO viewed Mercury crossing through the extended solar atmosphere called the corona; its images will be used to improve models of stray light. Two of SOHO's other instruments will be conducting experiments to determine absolute spacecraft roll and improve understanding of image distortion and optics. Both SOHO and TRACE scientists also tried to prove that cool material exists much further above the solar surface than theory predicts. [SOHO/EIT]
Courtesy: NASA / ESA
ITEM (3): Mercury in Sight (G03-031) - The planet closest to the Sun, Mercury's orbit brings it to a minimum distance of 46 million km to a maximum distance of 69.8 million km from the star. It has a heavily cratered appearance, very similar to that of our moon, and has no atmosphere. These images are from the Mariner 10 spacecraft that flew by the planet in 1974 and 1975. A second mission, MESSENGER, is planned to observe Mercury in 2007.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (4): VAULT: Rocket Telescope Gets a Closer Look (G03-045) - A specialized telescope launched aboard a sounding rocket let scientists to get the best-ever look at the Sun in ultraviolet wavelengths from space. Photographing areas as small as 240 km (150 miles) on a side, the images from the Very-high Angular resolution ULtraviolet Telescope (VAULT) will give solar scientists clues to how the Sun's outer atmosphere (corona) gets heated to over 1 million degrees Celsius. Flares and CMEs originate from this layer of the Sun and affect satellite operations and power grids on Earth.
Scientists compared VAULT data with data from SOHO and TRACE of the same time period to correlate activity in the lower atmosphere (chromosphere) with activity in the corona. Scientists also checked against ground telescopes at Big Bear and Kitt Peak Observatories. These visualizations show data from the satellites and VAULT (inset and zoom) from June 14, 2002. The first zoom shows a quiet area of the chromosphere; the second shows a more active region with colors enhanced to show detail.
Courtesy: NASA / NRL / ESA / LMSAL
ITEM (5): Coronal Loops on the Sun (g02-036) - The size of several Earths, coronal loops are plasma (electrified gas) that appear to trace out the corona's complex magnetic field structure. Scientists believe that the loops are hypervelocity currents of plasma blasted from the solar surface and squirted between the magnetic alleyways in the corona. In other words, the loops of plasma being propelled against solar gravity would be similar to the arc of water from a water fountain. At times the loops "snap open" in the form of a coronal mass ejection, releasing gas and particles out into space. [TRACE]
Courtesy: NASA / LMSAL
ITEM (6): Satellites at Risk From Sun (G03-045) - The Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites are just one of the systems that have the potential to be affected by the onslaught of plasma from CMEs blasting off the Sun. An important navigation system operated by the U. S. Department of Defense, at least 24 GPS satellites operate at all times, with a number of spares. Each orbits Earth twice a day and flies at a height of about 11,500 miles at a speed of nearly 2,000 mph. [ANIMAITON]
Courtesy: BOEING
ITEM (7): Sounding Rocket Launch (G03-045) - B-roll of sounding rocket launch (two sequences).
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (8): Spacecraft Trio Peeks at Secret Recipe For Space Weather (g03-040) - A collaboration between RHESSI, TRACE and SOHO recorded for the first time the entire initiation process of a solar flare, providing clues about the Sun's recipe for stormy weather. The April 21, 2002 observations confirmed the predominant scenario for how CMEs are blasted from the Sun. Both CMEs and solar flares can be initiated in a matter of seconds, making their joint observations difficult to coordinate. [SOHO / MDI, EIT, LASCO; TRACE; RHESSI]
Courtesy: NASA / ESA / LMSAL
ITEM (9): RHESSI Observations of X-ray & Gamma Rays From Flare (G03-040) - The twisting and snapping of magnetic field lines on the Sun, called magnetic reconnection, seem to cause CMEs and solar flares. When these fields snap from the buildup of magnetic energy, plasma is heated and particles are accelerated, resulting in massive explosions and the emission of radiation ranging from radio waves to X-rays and gamma rays. RHESSI saw a gradually increasing burst of X-rays (red) announcing the start of the flare. Several minutes later, it saw a burst of high-energy X-rays (blue) under the erupting CME. Gamma ray emissions were also spotted (purple). [RHESSI]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (10): Solar Flares: Antimatter Factories on the Sun (g03-050) - RHESSI revealed that solar flares, which release as much energy as a billion one-megaton nuclear bombs, somehow sort particles, either by their masses or their electric charge, as they are blasted out at nearly the speed of light. It is similar to gold miners blasting a cliff face and discovering that dirt was thrown in one direction and gold in another. RHESSI has also shaken up a few flare theories regarding the powerful antimatter being generated and destroyed during the explosions. [SPACECRAFT ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (11): Anatomy of a Flare (G03-050) - Scientists had thought the particles in the solar atmosphere were accelerated during a flare by being dragged along with the magnetic field; if so, all the particles would be shot in the same direction. Rather, heavier particles (ions) end up in a different location than lighter particles (electrons). The two orange lines extending above the surface of the Sun in the animation represent oppositely directed magnetic field lines extending out into the solar corona. They move together and when they touch, break like overstretched elastic bands that reconnect above and below the break point, and accelerate particles to high energies. These particles travel down the field lines towards the surface, home of the solar antimatter factory (see close-up sequence). When they hit the surface, they produce the X-rays and gamma rays and heat the gas to over 20 million degrees. This gas is seen moving back up the new magnetic loop formed by the earlier reconnection. [RHESSI]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (12): RHESSI Observations (G03-050) - This July 23 flare first tipped off scientists because the gamma rays (purple) were not emitted from the same locations as the X-rays (red and blue) as theory predicts. The two X-ray emitting regions near the footprints of the flare were located some 15,000 km (9,300 miles) north of the faint gamma-ray glow. The event generated about 1 pound of antimatter, enough to power the entire U.S. for two days. While it is known that large flares are antimatter factories, RHESSI revealed that the antimatter generated in the July 23 flare was not destroyed where expected. [RHESSI, TRACE]
Courtesy: NASA / LMSAL / BBSO
ITEM (13): Flares Powered by Extensive Destruction (G03-070) - RHESSI confirmed one prevalent theory about flares with actual observations: the large-scale destruction of magnetic fields in the Sun's atmosphere. Orange lines show the magnetic structure and the yellow shading represents the X-ray emission observed. Initially the flare X-ray emission brightens while the top of the magnetic arch (parallel orange lines, left) decreases in height. The X-rays brighten and the feet of the arch become visible in X-rays when the X-ray blob above the top of the arch separates from the arch. After a 2-minute delay, the X-ray blob and the magnetic loop it is associated with (orange circle, right) speed outward at about 100,000 mph (300 km/sec). The arch and the loop grow as newly reconnected magnetic fields build up around them.. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (14): RHESSI's Lucky Break May Lead to Secret of Explosions (G03-035) - NASA's RHESSI spacecraft may have uncovered the secret of gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, by a chance observation. While snapping pictures of solar flares on December 6, 2002, it caught an extremely bright gamma-ray burst in the background, over the edge of the Sun, revealing for the first time that the gamma rays in such a burst are polarized. The result indicates intense magnetic fields may be the driving force behind these awesome explosions. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (15): GRB: Death Cry of an Exploding Star (G03-035) - Gamma-ray bursts are remote flashes of gamma-ray light that pop off about once a day randomly in the sky, briefly shining as bright as a million trillion suns. Recent observations suggest they may be produced by a special kind of exploding star called a supernova. (File from G03-022. For a more detailed caption, see: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/0319hete.html) [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (16): Trigger: Enormous Magnetic Fields (G03-035) - The RHESSI observations provide a unique window on how these bursts are powered. The burst originates from a region of highly structured magnetic fields, stronger than the fields at the surface of a neutron star - until now, the strongest magnetic fields observed in the universe. Scientists say the magnetic fields [shown as gray lines] are acting as the dynamite, driving the explosive fireball we see as a gamma-ray burst. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (17): Voters Choose Best SOHO Images - To mark its eighth anniversary, the SOHO team, along with Space.Com and AOL, asked fans to vote for their favorite images. Nearly 24,000 people participated in the contest; included here are some of the winners along with runners-up.
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
ITEM (18): Study of a Dynamic Active Region - This is a close-up movie of Active Region 375 as it rotated almost completely across the face of the Sun over 11 days (June 2 - 12). During the course of its rotation, it unleashed several large X-class flares and CMEs. Above it charged particles are zooming along channels in the magnetic field, whose forces are breaking apart and reconnecting in an almost constant flurry of activity. [SOHO/EIT]
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
ITEM (19): Comet Neat Shoots Past Sun - While Comet NEAT was visible by SOHO's LASCO instrument on Feb. 16, it had been tracked by SOHO since Dec. 31, 2002. These pictures of the comet were unusual, due to the comet's sizeable tail and a very bright (saturated) comet nucleus. There was also a CME blast off the Sun's west limb adding a bit more drama to the image. [SOHO/LASCO]
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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| PRESS CONFERENCES
ITEM (1): Solar Wind Slips Through the Cracks (G03-068) - Immense cracks in the Earth's magnetic field remain open for hours, allowing the solar wind to gush through and power space weather, according observations from IMAGE and Cluster. The cracks were detected before but researchers now know they can remain open for long periods, rather than opening and closing in brief bursts. This discovery about how the Earth's magnetic shield is breached is expected to help space physicists give better estimates of the effects of severe space weather. [VO: Dr. William Peterson, NASA Program Scientist for IMAGE and Cluster Satellites]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (2): Cracks in the Magnetosphere (G03-068) - This animation follows the solar wind as it emanates from the Sun to the Earth's magnetic field. Where the solar wind's magnetic polarity is opposite that of the Earth's magnetic field, some electrically charged particles of the solar wind enter the Earth's magnetosphere through a crack formed during the interconnection of the Sun and Earth's magnetic field lines. These particles flow like a waterfall down the field line and splash on the ionosphere creating a spot in the ultraviolet proton aurora about the size of California. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (3): Spot Within Ultraviolet Aurora (G03-068) - The IMAGE spacecraft recorded this ultraviolet proton aurora, when at the same time, the 4-satellite Cluster constellation confirmed a crack was present by detecting solar wind ions streaming though the magnetosphere. The spot, seen in this data, is the point where the Sun's protons are impacting the Earth's Ionosphere. The crack remained open for at least as long as the IMAGE spacecraft was able to observe the aurora. This type of aurora is not visible to the human eye. [IMAGE/FUV]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (4): Image & Cluster Confirm Link Between Crack & Spot (G03-068) - While the IMAGE spacecraft observes the spot in the proton aurora, the 4-satellite Cluster constellation orbits through the stream of solar ions pouring in through a crack in the magnetosphere. These combined observations proved the link between the crack in the magnetosphere and the proton aurora spot allowing scientists to determine the crack can remain open for many hours. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (5): Additional Materials (G03-068):
Item 1: Magnetosphere animation
Item 2: Solar material falling in through crack
ITEM (6): Voyager Nears the Edge of the Solar System (G03-060) - The 26-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft is moving toward the boundary of our solar system. At eight billion miles from the Sun, it is brushing up against the edge of the heliosheath, a region where the supersonic winds blowing from the Sun slow and eventually stop when they meet up with interstellar space. A boundary called the termination shock is the entry to this region, which may or may not have 'washed over' Voyager earlier this year. This is the first boundary; the heliopause, which should be achieved sometime around 2020, is the ultimate entry into interstellar space. Shown: the location of the two pertinent boundaries separating Voyager from our solar system (within the influence of the solar wind) and entering into interstellar space. The dramatic orange border at the end of the animation represents the bow shock, a theoretical area created as interstellar gas runs into the solar atmosphere. In the second sequence, the orange gas throughout is the interstellar medium. The sequence ends with a view of the Sun surrounded by the heliosphere. Voyager 1 is over four billion miles from Pluto and the farthest path of Halley's Comet. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (7): What's in Question? (G03-060) - Two science teams from the mission are debating whether readings between August 2002 and January 2003 can be interpreted as Voyager entering the heliosheath temporarily, or whether it was just brushing up against the boundary of the termination shock. The controversy could be resolved easily if Voyager could measure the speed of the solar wind (which slows abruptly within the heliosheath), but that instrument no longer functions. Instead, other instruments have had to make educated interpolations. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (8): Demonstrating the Heliosphere (G03-060) - The heliosphere is like water splashing onto a plate and creating a rough ring radiating from the water pouring from the faucet. Like the gushing water spreads until it hits a limit, the solar wind races away from the Sun and flows out into space until encountering stronger forces beyond our solar system that slow it down and turn it around. The first boundary is the termination shock, like the first ripple after the smooth center of the water. It takes you into the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind gets deflected to the sides by the interstellar wind blowing on the solar system.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (9): Exploring the Heliosheath (G03-060) - This is a computer model demonstrating scientist's notions of the heliosphere and behavior of the bow shock. It is derived from actual observations of density, temperature, velocity and ionization states of the solar and interstellar wind. Hans Mueller (Dartmouth) and Gary Zank (UC Riverside) contributed the model. The next image from the Hubble Space Telescope provides further evidence of its validity.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (10): HST Spots Similar Bow Shock (G03-060) - How are scientists so certain a bubble blown by the solar wind surrounds us? They've actually seen bow shocks created from gas blowing from powerful stars, like this one imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. Like the crescent-shaped wave made by a ship moving through water, bow shocks can be created in space when two streams of gas collide. LL Orionis emits a strong solar wind that collided with slow-moving gas evaporating away from the center of the Orion Nebula, located to the lower right. [HUBBLE]
Courtesy: NASA / STSCI
ITEM (11): Riding the Solar Wind (G03-060) - Supersonic winds from the Sun encircle the solar system in the heliosphere, but that wind is not constant. It fluctuates in both space and time, and on a large scale with the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity; when the Sun is most active, the size of the heliosphere is smallest. At solar max, magnetic activity reduces the winds that escape from the Sun. 2003 signals a quiet phase of the solar cycle, explaining the confusion and the potential observation that the boundary washed over Voyager for a period of six months. The peak of the current cycle was 2000-2001. [ANIMATION]
Courtesy: ESA
ITEM (12): Clean Room / Launch (G03-060) - The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are identical in build but have different flight paths. Voyager 2 was actually launched first, on August 20, 1977; Voyager 1 was launched September 5. Voyager 1 is about 8 billion miles from the Sun and traveling at a speed of 3.6 AU per year while Voyager 2 is about 6.5 billion miles from the Sun and moving slightly slower at about 3.3 AU per year. One 'AU' equals the distance between the Sun and Earth, or 93 million miles.
Courtesy: NASA
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| THE SPACECRAFT
ITEM (1): The Current Fleet (G00-012) - This animation shows the current orbits of closely coordinated spacecraft: GEOTAIL, WIND, POLAR, SOHO and Cluster. Previously under the International Terrestrial Physics Program (ISTP), these Sun-Earth Connection operating missions bring together diverse views of the Sun, Earth and space in-between and often collaborate with ground-based observatories.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (2): The Future Fleet (G00-012) - To better study solar variability and understand its effect on humanity, NASA and other federal agencies are beginning a multi-year program called "Living with a Star." A set of missions and enhancements to current programs, the goal is to provide new capabilities for understanding the solar flares and coronal mass ejections that send electrified gas toward Earth and ultimately better predicting the effects of "solar weather" on Earth.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (3): ACE Spacecraft - The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft is designed to identify matter that comes near the Earth and to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of the solar system. This matter can come from the Sun, the 'space' between planets, and the Milky Way galaxy. When reporting space weather, ACE can provide an advanced warning (about 1 hour) of geomagnetic storms that can affect Earth systems. It was launched on August 25, 1997.Ê
Courtesy: NASA / ISAS
ITEM (4): Cluster Spacecraft - Four identical spacecraft carrying a complement of 11 identical instruments each, were launched in July and August 2000. The four fly in a close pyramid formation, giving scientists three-dimensional views of near-Earth space. Specifically they investigate the solar wind as it crashes into our planet's magnetosphere.Ê
Courtesy: NASA / ESA
ITEM (5): GEOTAIL Spacecraft - A joint US/Japanese project, 'Geotail' was the first in a series of five satellites to better understand the interaction of the Sun, the Earth's magnetic field and the Van Allen radiation belts. Located in the magnetic tail of the magnetosphere on the night side of the Earth, an area critical to understanding the interaction of the Sun and Earth, its primary objective is to study dynamics of the Earth's magnetotail. The spacecraft was launched on July 24, 1992.
Courtesy: NASA / ISAS
ITEM (6): IMAGE Spacecraft (G02-033) - Launched on March 25, 2000, the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft obtains continuous global images of charged particles in the Earth's magnetosphere and tracks these solar storms. One such storm can launch huge amounts of plasma from the Sun at more than 1 million mph and affect Earth systems.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (7): POLAR Spacecraft - Polar' was launched on February 24, 1996 to study the geospace, or Earth's space environment. It performs simultaneous, coordinated measurements of key regions including observations of the entry and transport of solar plasma over Earth's magnetic poles, imaging
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (8): RHESSI Spacecraft (G02-021) - The Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft watches the Sun in X-rays and gamma rays. RHESSI is the first spacecraft to make high-resolution movies of flares using their high-energy radiation. Launched on Feb. 5, 2002, its primary objective is to study the secrets of how solar flares are produced in the Sun's atmosphere. RHESSI orbits Earth about 15 times a day and spins on its axis every 4 seconds.
Courtesy: NASA / ISAS
ITEM (9): SOHO Spacecraft - Advance warning of potential bad weather in space is now possible thanks to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft launched in 1995. SOHO operates at a vantage point of about 1 million miles out in space between the Sun and Earth. It carries 12 instruments and is a joint project with the European Space Agency.Ê
Instruments include the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) that allows scientists to use a sort of ultrasound capability to see the far side of the Sun and inside it. The Large Angle Spectrometric Coronograph (LASCO) mimics an eclipse in order to study the Sun's corona, or outer atmosphere. The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) allows for a full-disk view of the Sun.
Courtesy: NASA / ESA
ITEM (10): SORCE Spacecraft (G02-079) - The SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) maintains a 24-year legacy of solar output monitoring that should help explain and predict the effect of the Sun on the Earth's atmosphere and climate. With four instruments, it orbits Earth 15 times a day and analyzes the Sun's energy in visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths that can be used to determine solar heating of Earth's oceans, ice, land and absorbing layers of the atmosphere. SORCE launched in January 2003.
Courtesy: NASA / LASP
ITEM (11): TIMED Spacecraft (G02-022) - Launched in Dec. 2001, the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) spacecraft is the first to study the region of our atmosphere that acts as a gateway between Earth's environment and space, called the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere/ Ionosphere (MLTI). Scientists hope to get a better understand of how Earth's environment and surroundings are impacted by solar energy.
Courtesy: NASA / APL
ITEM (12): TRACE Spacecraft (G02-036) - NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) points its powerful telescope at the "transition region" of the Sun's atmosphere, a highly volatile and dynamic region. Sensitive to ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet wavelengths of light, which are invisible to the human eye, scientists are given dynamic views of solar explosions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). TRACE was launched on April 1, 1998.Ê
Courtesy: NASA / LMSAL
ITEM (13): Voyager Spacecraft (G03-060) - The two Voyager spacecraft send back about 12 hours' worth of data per day at about the speed of a slow modem and with the power of a 28-watt nightlight. At launch, the mission was designed for a five-year journey to Jupiter and Saturn. With the success of Voyager 1, Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune; the entire mission covered four planets and 48 moons. They can operate until around 2020 - electrical power is supplied by nuclear Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) that decay, but still represent better performance than pre-launch predictions.
Courtesy: NASA / ISAS
ITEM (14): WIND Spacecraft - The 'Wind' spacecraft provides complete plasma, energetic particle, and magnetic field input for magnetospheric and ionospheric studies. It detects the magnetic field carried by coronal mass ejection clouds, but its location only allows scientists about an hour's notice. It can estimate how severe the space storm will be by measuring the direction of the magnetic field, though. It was launched on November 1, 1994.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (15): YOHKOH Spacecraft (G01-073) - Japanese for "sunbeam", the Yohkoh spacecraft launched in August 1991 and was the first spacecraft to continuously observe the Sun in X-rays over an entire cycle. It experienced a spacecraft failure during the December 14, 2001 eclipse when it lost its view of the Sun and the batteries discharged. Studying high-energy solar flares to scrutinize where and how the energy is released, researchers will be analyzing data gleaned from the spacecraft for some time to come.
Courtesy: NASA/ISAS
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| RESOURCE MATERIAL
ITEM (1): Auroras - The aurora is one of the effects caused by exposure of the Earth's poles to the CMEs that zip through the magnetosphere and if energized enough, slam into the atmosphere to create a light show. In the Northern Hemisphere it's referred to as the aurora borealis or northern lights; in the Southern Hemisphere it's either the aurora australis or southern lights.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (2): Space Weather Effects - Hot material called plasma can interact with the sunspot's magnetic fields and create violent explosions called flares. Energetic particles and radiation from these flares often result in coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that bombard Earth and can affect everything from radio communication to power grids to satellites and astronauts in space.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (3): NASA Scientist B-roll - Footage of NASA solar scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and NOAA scientists at the Space Environment Center (SEC) in Boulder, Co.
Courtesy: NASA/NOAA
ITEM (4): LASP Science Facility (G02-079) - For the next five years, university professionals, academic researchers and University of Colorado students will be operating and analyzing data from the SORCE spacecraft. The Laboratory for Atmospheric Physics (LASP) is located at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Co.
Courtesy: NASA/LASP
ITEM (5): Eclipse Viewing Guide - NASA Astronomer Dr. Fred Espenak reveals the key to viewing an eclipse safely.
Courtesy: NASA
ITEM (6): Sun Stuff B-roll - Resource footage shot of the Sun from the mountains of Boulder, Colorado.
Courtesy: NASA
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Space Science Gallery