2000 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| SOHO SEE'S THROUGH SUN | G00-021 | 03/09/00 | 00:11:17 | SOHO scientists have, for the first time, imaged explosive regions on the far side of the Sun, using a technique that senses subtle ripples on the Sun's visible surface to probe its interior. This new technique, using the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on SOHO, allows a week or so advance warning of these potential solar storms by creating a window through the Sun
to its far side. |
TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): ANIMATION OF ACTIVE REGION ON FAR SIDE OF THE SUN - Active regions produce explosions, called flares, and eruptions of plasma (hot, electrically charged gas) called coronal mass ejections. The radiation and plasma from these events sweep past the Earth, sometimes disrupting spacecraft, radio communications, and power systems. This new technique, using the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on SOHO, allows a week or so advance warning of these potential solar storms by creating a window through the Sun to its far side. |
| ITEM (2): ANIMATION OF SOUND WAVE PATTERNS INSIDE THE SUN - Sound waves from active regions propagate through the Sun's interior and bounce off the Sun's outer surface. The MDI instrument can detect the extremely subtle distortions these sound waves create on the Sun's surface. This data helps deduce the location of an active region on the far side of the sun.
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| ITEM (3): IMAGE OF FAR SIDE ACTIVE REGION - The active region entering the frame from the lower left was imaged almost a week earlier (overlay) using the variations in the speed of sound to produce an image. The analysis of solar sound waves is the science of helioseismology, and it opened the Sun's gaseous interior to investigation in much the same way as seismologists learned to explore the Earth's rocky interior with earthquake waves. Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (4): FOLLOWING AN ACTIVE REGION - The MDI team was able to follow this active region through a complete solar rotation. The March 29, 2000 image shows the active region as seen through the sun using helioseismology. Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (5): SOLAR SURFACE WAVES - These oscillations on the surface of the sun are used to create an image of activity on the far side of the sun.
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Courtesy: NASA/ESA
| ITEM (6): MDI ROTATION SEQUENCE - The sun makes one revolution every 28 days. Sunspots or active regions can be seen on the surface of the sun in this Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) image sequence. Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (7): CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS - Explosions on the Sun, called Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), send billions of tons of charged material out into space and occasionally in the direction of Earth. These image sequences, taken by the LASCO instrument on the SOHO spacecraft, show CMEs rocketing outward from the sun in all directions. The disk in the middle creates an artificial eclipse allowing the instrument to view the corona and the white circle in the center of this disk represents the Sun's size. Courtesy: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (8): SOHO SPACECRAFT ANIMATION - The SOHO Spacecraft orbits the sun at a location directly between Earth and the Sun, approximately one million miles from Earth. The SOHO spacecraft's instruments have an unobstructed view of the sun.Courtesy: ESA
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| ITEM (9): GSFC SCIENTIST B-ROLL - Solar scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center discuss solar events at their daily morning meeting.
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| ITEM (10): POTENTIAL SOLAR EFFECTS B-ROLL - Solar storms that impact Earth's magnetic field can adversely effect or damage electrical power grids, communication equipment, satellites, airplane and ship navigation, and astronauts.
1.Satellites animation
2.Airplane in flight
3.Animation of city experiencing blackout
4.Man talking on cellular telephone
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| ITEM (11): SOUNDBITES WITH DR. JOSEPH GURMAN, SOHO U.S. PROJECT SCIENTIST, NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, GREENBELT, MD
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