2007 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| NASA SPACECRAFT MAKES NEW DISCOVERIES ABOUT NORTHERN LIGHTS (AGU) | G07-082 | 12/07/07 | 7:59 | A constellation of five NASA spacecraft, launched less than eight months ago, has made three important discoveries about spectacular eruptions of Northern Lights called substorms and the source of their power. NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm, confirmed the existence of giant magnetic ropes and witnessed small explosions in the outskirts of Earth's magnetic field.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): THEMIS Mission and Substorm Simulation - This data visualization illustrates how the five THEMIS satellites in their final nightside orbits work together to detect substorm events in the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere data is a simulation from the Geospace General Circulation Model.
Courtesy: NASA/James Raeder
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| ITEM (2): March 23rd Substorm Modeled from THEMIS - This is a simulation of THEMIS data during a substorm on March 23, 2007. Note how the spacecraft are engulfed by the activity of the substorm.
Courtesy: NASA/James Raeder
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| ITEM (3): THEMIS Dayside Science - In the early part of the mission, the five THEMIS satellites followed the same orbit just beyond the bowshock on the dayside of the Earth's magnetosphere. Here the spacecraft encountered and dissected magnetic ropes feeding thousands of amps of electrical current from the edge of Earth's magnetosphere to the upper atmosphere.
Courtesy: NASA/Nicholas Omidi
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| ITEM (4): Computer Simulation of a Flux Transfer Event (FTE) - THEMIS has found evidence of magnetic ropes connecting Earth's upper atmosphere directly to the sun. This visualization shows a model of one of these ropes building up on the Earth's bowshock.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (5): Computer Simulation of a Hot Flow Anomaly (HFA) - The THEMIS probes in their dayside configuration found evidence that the solar wind, which is streaming past Earth at speeds in excess of 1,000,000 miles per hour, can be stopped dead in its tracks by peculiar explosions at the interface with the Earth's protective shield, a region known as the magnetopause.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (6): The THEMIS Spacecraft - Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) is a two-year mission consisting of 5 identical probes and a network of ground observatories that will track and determine the cause of the violent eruptions of auroras that occur during substorms.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (7): Soundbites With Dr. Vassilis Angelopoulos, THEMIS Principal Investigator, University of California, Los Angeles
Courtesy: NASA
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