2001 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS FROM NASA'S SUN-EARTH CONNECTION: THE YEAR OF THE SOLAR MAX (2000-2001)
| G01-006 | 01/28/02 | 01:26:34 | Dramatic and violent changes on the Sun have been occurring this past year during its active point, 'solar max'. Like Earth, the Sun has seasons, and, during the years of 2000/01, scientists watched and studied our closest star using the largest coordinated fleet of spacecraft and ground observations every assembled. This resource tape contains video highlights from the top science stories in NASA's Sun-Earth theme during the 2000-2001 peak of the solar maximum.
NOTE: In the interest of space, the spacecraft each image is attributed to appears in the slate within brackets. Their acronyms are spelled out at the end and available on the Goddard TV web site (http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gtv.html). "Credits" refer to the organization that should receive credit for the image and the originating video file number for each item appears in parentheses. |
TAPE CONTENTS: |
| WELCOME TO THE SOLAR MAX
ITEM (1): Amazing Changing Sun (G00-102) - Solar maximum is considered to be the 2-3 year peak period 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. Shown are the dramatic changes on the Sun from a minimum in 1996 to solar maximum in 2000. [SOHO] Credit: NASA/ESA
ITEM (2): A Ten-Year View (G01-062) - The Yohkoh spacecraft holds the record for being the first spacecraft to continuously observe the Sun in X-rays over an entire solar cycle (about 11 years). This view shows the Sun through its minimum and maximum - 1991-2001. [YOHKOH] Credit: NASA / ISAS
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| WHAT DENOTES SOLAR MAX / WHY CARE
ITEM (1): CMEs - Best Of (G00-102) - A CME is a violent discharge of material from the Sun's outer atmosphere, which can travel at speeds of up to a million miles per hour. If this flow of charged particles collides with Earth, it can dramatically disrupt Earth's geomagnetic field resulting in disrupted communications, errors in navigation systems, satellite failures, and electrical blackouts. CMEs can reach Earth within 2-4 days or less. [SOHO]
Credit: NASA/ESA
ITEM (2): What Is a CME - Animation - 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] Credit: NASA
ITEM (3): Predicting Arrival of CME - A Model (G00-060) - The Empirical CME Arrival Model which uses the calculated speed of the CME as it's headed toward Earth, to figure out when it will arrive within about 12 hours. The better lead-time allows for preparations of orbiting satellites, power systems and even satellite communications. The SOHO spacecraft is located in front of Earth's magnetosphere. [ANIMATION] Credit: NASA
ITEM (4): Cannibal CMEs (G01-030) - SOHO watched as a faster-moving CME from the same general region gobbled up a slow-moving one expelled from the Sun in June 2000. The result was a single CME that may result in longer magnetic storms on Earth. The cannibalism changes the speed of the eruption, which is important for space weather prediction because it alters estimated Earth arrival time. [ANIMATION]
[SOHO] Credits: NASA & NASA/ESA
ITEM (5): Identical Flares (G01-073) - Like snowflakes, solar flares that blast off from the Sun are distinct, which makes the November 2000 event very unusual. Flares get their energy from the destruction of magnetic fields in the Sun's atmosphere, which typically can't repeat in exactly the same way. The observation may help reveal the link between flares and other violent solar activity like CMEs that get ejected toward
Earth. [YOHKOH] [SOHO] [SOHO] Credits: NASA/ISAS & NASA/ESA
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| THE SOLAR SURFACE
ITEM (1): Fountains of Fire (G00-087) - 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] Credit: NASA/LMSAL
ITEM (2): 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 travelling 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] Credit: NASA / ESA
ITEM (3): The Sunspot Group: Active Regions (G01-084) - In March 2001, an active region that also housed sunspots, AR 9393, grew to a size 18 times larger than Earth. At that size it became the largest active region harboring the largest sunspot since 1991 and released record-setting flares into space and toward Earth. Active regions are sites of fierce activity, generating explosions called solar flares and eruptions of electrified and magnetized gas (plasma) called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). [SOHO] Credit: NASA / ESA
ITEM (4): 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] Credit: NASA
ITEM (5): Spinning Sunspots (G01-084) - Scientists used the August 2000 sunspot AR 9114 as a model for studying spots that rotate. AR 9114 was an average-sized spot that spun more than 200 degrees counter-clockwise in less than three days. Scientists discovered a strong plasma vortex beneath the rotating sunspot and that the magnetic fields lacing the sunspot appeared to be twisted beneath the surface. [SOHO/TRACE] Credit: NASA / ESA / LMSAL
ITEM (6): "S" Marks The Spot (G99-013) - "S" shaped patterns on the Sun's magnetic surface are called "Sigmoids." Their appearance seems to indicate a strong likelihood that a violent coronal mass ejection (CME) will occur within days, projecting billions of nuclear explosions out into space, sometimes towards Earth. Note the sigmoid or "S" structure that occurred prior to the CME eruption. [YOHKOH] [SOHO] Credit: NASA/ISAS & NASA/ESA
ITEM (7): Magnetic Pressure Cooker (G00-059) - Here the underlying twisting of the Sun's magnetic field and the formation of sigmoids or "S" shaped patterns on the Sun. The premise: powerful solar eruptions may be similar to the rocking lid on a pressure cooker - as magnetic energy emerges from the Sun's interior, it may accumulate under an older magnetic "lid" trapping the turbulent energy. A "null" point is reached where the positive and negative poles of the magnetic field cancel each other; then the energy flows along field lines forcing the cap to be blown off. [ANIMATION] Credit: NASA/NRL
ITEM (8): Solar Moss (G99-104) - A feature near the surface of the Sun resembles a weird, sponge-like moss! The Sun's mysterious transition region is a place where hot temperatures soar from 10,000 to millions of degrees C, making this region hotter than its core. Scientists are working to explain the seeming incongruity. [TRACE] Credit: NASA
ITEM (9): Solar Granules (G01-011) This close-up reveals a small section of the solar surface where each granule is bigger than the state of Texas. They are part of a continuously changing network of convective cells that grow, fragment, decay, and explode like an earthly sonic boom within five
minutes. This sends sound (pressure) waves throughout the Sun in millions of directions. Credit: Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope / Lockheed Martin
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| GEOSPACE: THE
PATH FROM SUN TO EARTH
ITEM (1): Earth's Magnetosphere - The Earth has a vast protective magnetic field that is controlled by the Earth's magnetism called the magnetosphere. It extends far beyond the atmosphere, out into space, and acts as a buffer between the Earth and the solar wind. The magnetosphere is very
flexible, allowing the solar wind to compress the magnetic field on the dayside, stretching it out on the night side in a long tail.
[ANIMATION] Credit: NASA
ITEM (2): Seeing Earth's Magnetosphere (G01-007) - Launched in 2000, the IMAGE spacecraft has taken the first large-scale pictures of Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere. It has verified the existence of a tail of electrified gas torn away by solar wind-driven convection as seen here. In the second segment, IMAGE looks at the electrified gas particles, or plasma, that populate the inner regions of the magnetosphere - red refers to hot plasma at 10 million degrees C, while blue refers to cold helium at only a few thousand degrees C. [IMAGE] Credit: NASA
ITEM (3): Solar Wind (G00-052) - Interplanetary space seems dark and empty, but Earth's near-space environment is filled with magnetic fields, electric fields, matter, energy, and activity invisible to the naked eye. The electrically charged solar particles blowing through space are concentrated in patches located along of the edges of honeycomb shaped patterns of magnetic fields inside coronal holes. Appearing as fountains of energy, the solar wind is blown out and sent rushing at 2 million miles per hours into space, sometimes towards Earth.
Credit: AVL / UMD
ITEM (4): A Solar Wind Model (G00-102) - The shock wave and leading edge of a July 2000 solar wind storm hit the Earth's protective shield 25.5 hours after leaving the Sun's surface, causing turbulence throughout the entire magnetosphere. This data-driven model uses solar wind data from the Geotail spacecraft showing Earth's magnetosphere being compressed by the incoming shock wave. [GEOTAIL] Credit: NASA
ITEM (5): Magnetic Reconnection & Auroras (G00-052) - When the solar wind's magnetic field is opposite from Earth's magnetic field, imbalances are formed leading to an attraction, or magnetic reconnection. Charged particles rush into our magnetosphere causing magnetic storms and auroras. Here, dramatic
perturbations form in the Earth's magnetic field as the solar storm buffets the Earth's protective magnetic shield. The intense solar storm caused the magnetic field to break apart and reconnect on the opposite side of the Earth. [ANIMATION] Credit: NASA
ITEM (6): Solar Particles & Auroras (G00-053) - The following views of the magnetosphere were among the first captured by the IMAGE spacecraft, which studies the response of Earth's magnetosphere to solar wind. The High Energy Neutral Atom Imager (HENA) instrument records the development of a storm cloud of energetic particles. Red colors indicate the highest intensity of incoming particles and blue represents the lowest. Looking from the Sun towards the Earth, IMAGE is viewing the Earth on the night side.
Credit: NASA
ITEM (7): Aurora From Space (G00-053) - The Far Ultraviolet Imager (FUV) instrument records an aurora during a small space storm. Brighter yellow corresponds to brighter auroral light and details the highly turbulent region revealing storm activity in the magnetic field surrounding Earth. The second image is from the EUV instrument showing the aurora at the peak of a small space storm. Same color scheme. [IMAGE] Credit: NASA
ITEM (8): Sunlight in Earth's Atmosphere (G00-053) The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUV) instrument records sunlight scattered from the Earth's extended atmosphere of helium. The helium atmosphere extends to about 2-3 times the size of the Earth. Irregularities at the fringe, such as the upper left, indicate magnetic storm activity. Earth has been superimposed in the first sequence for orientation and scale. [IMAGE] Credit: NASA
ITEM (9): A Comet's Solar Path (G01-006) The Sun has put an end to another comet's joyride - caught on camera by SOHO in Oct. 2001. Scientists theorize that several comets seen buzzing the Sun seem to be the fragmentary progeny of a great comet seen perhaps as early as 372 BC by Greek astronomers. It is believed that that comet split into two, then split again and again, producing a family of comets known as "sungrazers." In its six years, SOHO has spotted over 365 comets. Credit: NASA/ESA
ITEM (10): SOHO: The Great Comet Hunter (G00-013) While SOHO's main job is to watch for solar flares and CMEs that can threaten Earth's space environment, it also had a great view of sun-grazing comets. Here are comets from Feb. 4, 2000; June 2, 1998; April 10-13, 1998; Dec. 24, 1996. Credit: NASA/ESA
ITEM (11): Planets on Parade (G00-047) SOHO caught pictures of three planets as they aligned with the Sun April 21 through May 5, 2000. At the end of the sequence, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn are in the field of view of the LASCO instrument on SOHO. Credit: NASA/ESA
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| LINKS BETWEEN SUN AND EARTH
ITEM (1): Space Weather And Ozone (G01-056) - Electrically charged particles raining down on Earth's atmosphere from large solar storms help to deplete upper-level ozone in much the same way as CFCs and other natural elements. While important ozone is broken down, the bulk of the reduction occurs in the uppermost atmospheric layer where only a small portion of the protective ozone layer resides. Shown are the particles hitting the LASCO instrument's camera followed by the 2000 ozone hole. [SOHO] [TOMS] Credit: NASA/ESA & NASA
ITEM (2): Sunburn Hotspots (G01-059) - NASA and other agency satellites track and report UV levels to the public as a matter of safety. Here, UV-B levels, the most dangerous to people, are shown for August 2000-2001. Things to watch for include high levels of UV exposure during the
Southern Hemisphere summer in Australia and southern Africa due to more open and cloud-free areas and lower rates in the Sahara from desert dust. [TOMS] Credit: NASA
ITEM (3): 2001 Summer Eclipse (G01-041A) - A total solar eclipse started out the summer on June 21, 2001. It was only visible within a very narrow corridor, stretching from the Southern Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. NASA teamed up with the Exploratorium to bring viewers live pictures from Africa. Credit: NASA
ITEM (4): The Little Ice Age (G01-081) - Unusually low solar activity called the 'Maunder Minimum' between 1645-1715 likely triggered the 'Little Ice Age' in regions like Europe and North America. A 2001 computer model seemed to confirm this long-held theory by proving that the decreased
UV levels from the Sun created a stronger ozone layer, which altered the heating of the oceans. Winter temperatures cooled as much as 2 to 4 degrees F (1 C) - enough to freeze rivers and alter agriculture, economy, disease, etc. The model shows temperature anomalies with 1780 as an arbitrary baseline (neutral). Credit: NASA
ITEM (5): "Sports on a Frozen River" by Aert van der Neer - During the 'Little Ice Age' Greenland was largely cut off by ice and canals in Holland routinely froze solid. Rivers in Europe froze over and people skated and golfed on the ice. North America experienced drastic food shortages. One of the major impacts of the study was to show that while the Sun was a major influence on Earth's climate at the time, it has been superceded by ourselves since the industrial age circa 1850. Today greenhouse gases and such seem to impact our world more than the Sun. Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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| 3 SOLAR FEATURE STORIES
ITEM (4a): Bastille Day Study (G00-102) [GSFC] - On July 14, 2000, a powerful X-class solar flare left the Sun and made science history by becoming one of the most studied solar events by NASA and NOAA's extensive solar-observing fleet. The timeline is as follows:
X-Class flare erupts, followed by coronal mass ejection
Protons blast satellite sentinels
ACE spacecraft detects plasma shock wave
Shock wave hits Earth's magnetosphere
Peak geomagnetic activityCredit: NASA
1a) The Bastille Day Event (Part 1) The 'Bastille Day' storm began with a powerful X-class flare captured here by the SOHO EIT and LASCO instruments. The flare released streams of high-energy protons which peppered EIT's sensors just six minutes later. The solid colored circle in the
middle of the LASCO image represents the Sun which is occulted by LASCO's camera. Following these two, is a close-up view of the originating region taken by TRACE. [SOHO/EIT] [SOHO/LASCO] [TRACE] Credit: NASA/ESA, NASA/LMSAL
1b) The Bastille Day Event (Part 2) - The event resulted in a solar storm that arrived on Earth and was immediately detected by the Visible Imaging System (VIS) on the Polar spacecraft. Over the next three hours, the number of protons arriving increased until the image of Earth was completely
hidden in the blizzard of energetic solar protons. Only 26 hours after the initial CME left the Sun, ACE detected a strong shock wave from a large incoming plasma cloud headed towards Earth. [POLAR] [ACE] Credit: NASA, NASA/APL
1c) The Bastille Day Event (Part 3) - The shock wave and leading edge of the solar storm hit Earth's magnetosphere 26.5 hours after leaving the Sun at over 2 million mph. Ranked as G5, the most intense storm, it lasted for nearly 9 hours after impact. The magnetic field broke apart and reconnected on the opposite side of the Earth, releasing energy that can both damage satellites and create beautiful aurora. [GEOTAIL] Credit: NASA/ISAS
1d) The Bastille Day Event (Part 4) - The aurora borealis that evolved under the impact of the currents of electrons and protons entering the atmosphere is visible with the FUV instrument on IMAGE. The HENA instrument observed the strengthening and eventual weakening of the ring current
(a ring of electrically charged particles trapped in the magnetosphere). Finally, 31 hours after the initial CME, the Earth was at the height of an intense geomagnetic storm. [IMAGE/FUV] [IMAGE/HENA] [POLAR] Credit: NASA
ITEM (4b): Sounds of The Sun (G01-011) [GSFC] - Like listening to a heartbeat, scientists called helioseismologists are listening to the sound of the Sun to learn about its temperature, chemical makeup, and motions. The MDI instrument aboard SOHO watches the movements of the surface of the Sun to reconstruct the sound. Each pitch corresponds with a particular part of the Sun, allowing for various measurements and studies. [SOHO] Credit: NASA/ESA
2a) Tunes Reveal Temperature (G01-011) - Helioseismology relies on different sounds from different parts of the Sun, but some parts proved hotter (red) or cooler (blue) than expected. The finding was based on sound travelling faster in regions that are hotter, and slower in cool regions. This image is from MDI and VIRGO, both on the SOHO spacecraft. [SOHO] Credit: NASA/ESA
2b) Sunquakes (G01-011) - Solar flares can generate seismic disturbances on the solar surface and interior similar to earthquakes. Similar to throwing a pebble in a pond, the waves produced can shake the Sun to its very core, and if on Earth, would measure up to 11.3 on the Richter scale. [SOHO] Credit: NASA/ESA
2c) X-ray Vision (G00-021) - SOHO's MDI instrument allows scientists to see through the Sun to identify stormy solar weather up to a week in advance from the far side of the Sun. By watching the visible ripples on the Sun, scientists can see developing solar storms, called active regions. These regions are much larger than the Earth and consist of strong magnetic fields on the Sun's surface; they are the origin of CMEs and solar flares. [SOHO] Credit: NASA/ESA
2d) Solar Heartbeat (G00-033) - Helioseismology also revealed currents of gas deep inside the Sun, speeding and slackening every 16 months. Like blood pulsating in an artery, these currents are the first indication of changes close to the location of the solar dynamo. The dynamo is
theoretical, believed to drive the 11-year solar cycle. When the lower gas speeds up, the upper gas slows and vice versa; the layers can differ by as much as 20% in six months. Credit: NASA
ITEM (4c): Inside The Sunspot (G01-066) - What lies beneath those dark sunspots? Here, helioseismology allowed scientists to map the anatomy of the sunspot where all of the heat from the solar core is blocked by magnetic fields resulting in a significantly cooler region on the solar surface that appears black. The MDI instrument on SOHO was crucial for getting the view. Credit: NASA
3a) Internal Ebb & Flow - How do sunspots remain intact with opposite magnetic fields repelling each other? For the first time, scientists were able to confirm theories that inward flows of material stabilize the structure. With the MDI instrument, scientists observed these flows, shown here in a data-driven visualization.
Credit: NASA/ESA
3b)Ground-level Observations (G01-066) - Equally valuable to solar studies are ground-based telescope views. The first images are from the Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope (SVST) resting atop a volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. The remaining are from the Big Bear Solar Observatory located in the middle of Big Bear Lake, California. Credit: Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope/Lockheed Martin, Big Bear Solar Observatory/NJIT
3c)Galileo's Sunspots (G01-066) - Galileo Galilei was one of the first Europeans to study and record sunspots in 1611. Contrary to other theories, he believed that sunspots were part of the Sun itself, like spots or clouds. This was controversial because popular sentiment, based on the likes of
Greek philosopher Aristotle, was that the Sun and heavens were perfect and unblemished. Credit: Galileo Project, Rice University / Owen Gingrich
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| THE
SPACECRAFT
ITEM (1): The Current Fleet (G00-012) - The bulk of NASA's solar-observing spacecraft are part of the International Terrestrial Physics Program (ISTP) constellation of satellites. The initiative uses simultaneous and closely coordinated measurements from GEOTAIL, WIND, POLAR, SOHO and Cluster with complementary ground facilities to study the Sun. Credit: NASA/ESA
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. Credit: 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. Credit: 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. Credit: 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.
ITEM (6): IMAGE Spacecraft (G00-004, 053) - 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. Credit: 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 of the northern aurora (Northern Lights), and investigations of solar wind properties. Credit: NASA
ITEM (8): 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 vantagepoint 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.
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. Credit: NASA/ESA
ITEM (9): TIMED Spacecraft (G01-022) - 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. Credit: NASA/APL
ITEM (10): TRACE Spacecraft 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. Credit: NASA/LMSAL
ITEM (11): 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. Credit: NASA
ITEM (12): YOHKOH Spacecraft (G01-062) - Japanese for "sunbeam", the Yohkoh spacecraft celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Traveling in a 96-minute, nearly circular orbit, it is the first spacecraft to continuously observe the Sun in X-rays over an entire cycle (about 11 years). One of its main purposes is to study high-energy solar flares to scrutinize where and how the energy is released and particle acceleration takes place.
Credit: NASA/ISAS |
| ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE
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 Hemishpere it's either the aurora australis or southern lights. Credit: NASA
ITEM (2): 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. Credit: NASA & NOAA
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