2003 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| MERCURY CROSSES PATHS WITH THE SUN
| G03-031 | 05/17/03 | 00:04:10 | The planet Mercury passed in front of the Sun early in the morning 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 NASA's spacecraft were able to capture 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.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Closing in on Mercury - NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) got a closer view of the Mercury transit. TRACE orbits Earth at a height of about 600 km (373 miles). Similar to SOHO, TRACE's goal for May 7 is to prove that cool material exists much further above the solar surface than theory predicts.
Courtesy: NASA / LMSAL
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| ITEM (2): Mercury Transit Seen by SOHO - Advance warning of potential bad weather in space is now possible thanks to the Solar and Heliospheric OThis just in: From a vantage point one million miles out in space, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft caught a view of the transit this morning. The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) on 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.
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (3): Mercury in Sight - 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
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| ITEM (4): TRACE Spacecraft - 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 that are invisible to the human eye, TRACE scientists are given dynamic views of solar explosions and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Courtesy: NASA/LMSAL
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| ITEM (5): SOHO Spacecraft - The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) orbits the Sun at a location approximately one million miles from Earth to gain an unobstructed view of the Sun. Launched in 1995, SOHO caught much of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle of activity including the peak period of 2000-2001. During that time, solar flares and coronal mass ejections intensify in intensity and frequency creating stormy space weather that affects everything from communication satellites to astronauts on the International Space Station.
Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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