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The
Latest Observations Mercury
Crosses Paths with the Sun
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1 | | | The
planet Mercury passed in front of the Sun early May 7 in an unusual event called
a 'transit'. It was visible from North America as the Sun rose (a few minutes
after 6 am EDT for Washington, DC). Credit:
NASA/ LMSAL Mercury
Transit Seen By SOHO
From
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.
Credit: NASA /ESA Mercury
in Sight
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3 | | | Closest
to the Sun, Mercury has a cratered appearance like our moon. Mariner flew by in
1974 and 9175; the follow-up mission, MESSENGER, is planned to launch in 2004.
Credit:
NASA
Vault:
Rocket Telescope Gets a Closer Look
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4 | | | A
specialized telescope launched aboard a sounding rocket let scientists to get
the best-ever look at the Sun in ultraviolet wavelengths from space. Data was
correlated with spacecraft and ground observations.
Credit: NASA
/ NRL / ESA / LMSAL A
Different View
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5 | | | The
images from VAULT will give solar scientists clues to how the Sun's outer atmosphere
(corona) gets heated to over 1 million degrees Celsius. This detail shows an active
region.
Credit: NASA / NRL / ESA / LMSAL
Spacecraft
Trio Peeks at Secret Recipe for Space Weather
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6 | | | A
collaboration between RHESSI, TRACE and SOHO recorded for the first time the entire
initiation process of an April 2002 solar flare, providing clues about the Sun's
recipe for stormy weather.
Credit: NASA / ESA
RHESSI
Observations of X-Ray and Gamma Rays From Flare
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7 | | | RHESSI
saw a gradually increasing burst of X-rays (red) announcing the start of the April
flare. Several minutes later, it saw a burst of high-energy X-rays (blue) under
the erupting CME. Gamma ray emissions are purple.
Credit: NASA
Antimatter
Factories on the Sun
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8 | | | RHESSI
revealed that solar flares somehow sort particles, either by their masses or their
electric charge, as they are blasted out at nearly the speed of light. It's similar
to gold miners blasting a cliff face and discovering that dirt was thrown in one
direction and gold in another.
Credit: NASA Anatomy
of Flare
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9 | | | 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.
Credit:
NASA RHESSI
Observations
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10 | | | This
July 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 event generated about 1 pound of antimatter, enough to power the entire U.S.
for two days.
Credit:
NASA / LMSAL /BBSO
Flares
Powered by Extensive Destruction
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11 | | | RHESSI
also confirmed one prevalent theory about flares with actual observations: the
large-scale destruction of magnetic fields in the Sun's atmosphere.
Credit: NASA
RHESSI's
Lucky Break May Lead to Secret of Explosions
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12 | | | RHESSI
may have uncovered the secret of gamma-ray bursts by a chance observation. While
snapping pictures of solar flares in Dec. 2002, it caught an extremely bright
gamma-ray burst in the background.
Credit: NASA GRB:
Death Cry of an Exploding Star
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13 | | | 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.
Credit: NASA
Voters
Choose Best SOHO Images
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14 | | | To
mark its eighth anniversary, the SOHO team asked fans to vote for their favorite
images. Nearly 24,000 people participated in the contest.
Credit: NASA / ESA
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). It unleashed several large
X-class flares and CMEs.
Credit:
NASA / ESA
Comet
NEAT Shoots Past Sun
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16 | | | Comet
NEAT was visible by SOHO's LASCO instrument on Feb. 16, though it had been tracked
by SOHO since Dec. 31, 2002. A CME also blasted away from the Sun while the comet
passed by.
Credit: NASA / ESA
Press
Conferences Solar
Wind Slips Through the Cracks
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17 | | | 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.
Credit: NASA Cracks
in the Magnetosphere
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18 | | | 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 the crack formed.
Credit: NASA Spot
Within Ultraviolet Aurora
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19 | | | IMAGE
recorded this ultraviolet proton aurora, while the 4-satellite Cluster constellation
confirmed a crack was present by detecting solar wind ions streaming though the
magnetosphere.
Credit: NASA IMAGE
and Cluster Confirm Link Between Crack and Spot
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20 | | | While
IMAGE observes the spot in the proton aurora, Cluster orbits through the stream
of solar ions pouring in through a crack in the magnetosphere.
Credit: NASA
Voyager
Nears the Edge of the Solar System
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21 | | | The
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.
Credit: NASA
What's
in Question
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22 | | | Science
teams are debating whether Voyager entered the heliosheath temporarily, or whether
it was just brushing up against the boundary of the termination shock August –
January.
Credit:
NASA Demonstrating
the Heliosphere
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23 | | | 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; it resembles
this kitchen sink demo.
Credit: NASA Exploring
the Heliosheath
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24 | | | This
is a computer model demonstrating scientist’s notions of the heliosphere
and behavior of the bow shock. Created by Hans Mueller (Dartmouth) and Gary Zank
(UC Riverside).
Credit: NASA HST
Spots Similar Bow Shock
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25 | | | 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 in 1995.
Credit: NASA /STSCI Riding
the Solar WindExploring the Heliosheath
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26 | | | 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.
Credit: ESA Message
in a Bottle: The Record
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27 | | | Voyagers
1 and 2 contain a greeting organized by Dr. Carl Sagan and others in a 12-inch
gold-plated copper disc. It contains 115 images, animal sounds, spoken greetings
and 90 minutes of music.
Credit: NASA Back
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