2000 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| MAGNETIC PRESSURE COOKER ON THE SUN | G00-059 | 06/21/00 | 00:06:40 | The most powerful solar eruptions may be caused by a process similar to a pressure cooker blowing its lid, according to a new model "field tested" by astronomers using observations made by NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) satellite. These eruptions, called flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), are known to trigger stormy space weather, which can in turn damage communications satellites and disrupt transmissions along electrical power lines on Earth.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): MAGNETIC PRESSURE COOKER ANIMATION - Using the Bastille Day Flare that occurred on July 14, 1998, this 3-D numerical model demonstrates the magnetic pressure cooker theory. Magnetic energy emerges from the solar interior, appears low in the solar atmosphere, and accumulates 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. The energy begins flowing along field lines, forcing the cap to be blown off the lid and releasing the energy.
Credit: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
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| ITEM (2): TRACE SOLAR FLARE - Solar flares captured by the Transition Regional and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), demonstrate the violent eruptions that occur on the Sun. This image was taken June 1999. Credit: NASA/Stanford Lockheed Institute for Space Research
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| ITEM (3): A SOLAR FLARE-UP - The following sequence shows a solar flare that occurred on May 19, 1998 as captured by TRACE. Credit: NASA/Stanford Lockheed Institute for Space Research
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| ITEM (4): SOLAR LIMB ACTIVITY - This TRACE-captured image reveals what scientists call the Sun's "magnetic carpet." The loops on the 'carpet' carry enormous amounts of energy. Credit: NASA/Stanford Lockheed Institute for Space Research
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| ITEM (5): LOWER SOLAR CORONA
- This sequence was taken by the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft in 1998. It shows the Sun's lower corona in the 80,000 Kelvin range. Credit: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (6): SOHO-CAPTURED FLARES - The Sun has a magnetic field, but is far more complex than Earth's. The closer the Sun is to solar maximum, the more active the magnetic field becomes, causing solar flares (bright white flashes) and loops of magnetic activity as seen by the EIT instrument on SOHO February 2000. This is the year of the solar maximum. Credit: NASA/ESA
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| ITEM (7): CORONAL MASS EJECTION 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. They can disrupt communications systems, navigation systems, satellites and electrical power grids. Credit: NASA
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| ITEM (8): TRACE SATELLITE ANIMATION -The Transition Regional and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) is part of the NASA Small Explorer mission and was launched April 1998. Its mission is to observe the evolution of magnetic field structures >from the Sun's corona, study the heating mechanisms of the outer solar atmosphere, and investigate the triggers and onset of solar flares and CMEs. Credit: NASA
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