2001 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| SEEING EARTH'S INVISIBLE MAGNETIC REALM | G01-007 | 01/25/01 | 00:08:15 | The first large-scale pictures of the hidden machinations of the Earth's magnetic force field are now available thanks to NASA's IMAGE (Imager for Magnetospause to Aurora Global Exploration) spacecraft. These images increase our understanding of Earth's space weather, which includes interactions between the sun, solar wind, and Earth's fluctuating magnetic fields. Features such as an invisible tail were predicted, but other structures leave scientists with new questions to answer.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Tails, Shoulders, And Bite-Outs - IMAGE has verified the existence of a "tail" of electrified gas torn away by solar wind-driven convection, as seen in these images from 5/24/2000. These ultraviolet, global views reveal surprising new structural patterns including "bite outs", "spokes", and a "shoulder" that co-rotates with the Earth. At this time, there is no clear explanation for these features.
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| ITEM (2): Cold And Hot Plasma Imaging - The Earth's magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, dominates the behavior of electrically charged particles in space near Earth and shields the Earth from the solar wind. The IMAGE instruments look at the electrified gas particles or plasma that populate the inner regions of Earth's magnetosphere. Hot and cold plasma refers to how much energy the individual particles have. The red views are of the neutral atom glow from the hot plasma at 10 millions of degrees C, while the blue views are of the density of cold helium at only a few thousands of degrees C.
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| ITEM (3): Storm Plasma Reacts Unexpectedly - Magnetic storms occur when the solar wind pummels the Earth's magnetosphere, stretching it out on the night side. The night side region suddenly snaps back and shoots plasma violently towards Earth. The plasma becomes heated to several hundred million degrees and whirls around our planet in multi-million amp currents. IMAGE discovered that, occasionally, the hot storm plasma is densest on the Earth's day side, which is unexpected since it comes from the night side. This storm took place on June 10, 2000.
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| ITEM (4): Proton And Electron Views of an Aurora - The Far-Ultraviolet Imager (FUV) takes global images of electrons and fast hydrogen atoms travel into the atmosphere making auroral light. This night-side auroral behavior during a post storm-onset period is seen in the atmospheric glow created by the energy of auroral particles as they are lost into the atmosphere, revealing a violent poleward expansion. This partial view of the aurora dated June 16, 2000 shows proton emissions (red) and electron precipitation (yellow), which are then overlaid to reveal the extraordinary phenomenon.
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| ITEM (5): Magnetosphere Responds to Solar Activity - This animation depicts a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the sudden release of magnetic energy from the surface of the Sun. The pressure of the solar wind compresses the sunlit side of the magnetosphere. When the solar wind's magnetic field is opposite from Earth's magnetic field, the solar wind "reconnects" with and drags the Earth's magnetic field along with it, causing the magnetosphere to stretch out on the night side. The stretched tail may tear off, while the rest of it snaps back toward the Earth, heating the hot plasma. The satellite's photon and neutral atom imaging provide global images of the turmoil.
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| ITEM (6): Solar Maximum Means More Storms - The IMAGE satellite has been in the right place at the right time: when the Sun is believed to be at the peak of its eleven-year cycle of activity. Solar maximum is the two-to-three year period around the peak when the Sun's
activity is most complex and turbulent, and the space around Earth is most disturbed. Notice the dramatic changes in the Sun's atmosphere from solar minimum in 1996 (first sequence) to solar maximum in 2000 (second sequence). Some types of solar storms are even more prevalent during the declining phase of the
solar cycle, so the best may be yet to come. These images were captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO), Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope (EIT) camera.
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| ITEM (7): IMAGE Satellite Animation - IMAGE is the first satellite mission dedicated to imaging Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space made up of plasmas of both solar and terrestrial origin. Invisible to standard astronomical observing techniques, ions and electrons have traditionally been studied by means of localized measurements with charged particle
detectors, magnetometers, and electric field instruments. IMAGE employs a variety of imaging techniques to "see the invisible", producing the first comprehensive global images of the plasma populations in the inner magnetosphere. Space scientists are now able to observe, in a way never before possible, the large-scale
dynamics of the magnetosphere and the interactions of the tenuous plasma populations.
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| ITEM (8): Interview With Thomas E. Moore, Head, Interplanetary Physics Branch
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Space Science Gallery