1999 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| STIFF SOLAR ATMOSPHERE MAY EXPLAIN HEATING MYSTERY | G99-067 | 8/5/99 | 00:04:49 | Dramatic new images from Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) satellite are helping unravel a perplexing mystery: How can the atmosphere of the Sun be hotter than the star's surface? |
TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): VIBRATING CORONAL LOOPS - Huge loops and coils of heated coronal gas vibrate like a piano string hit by its hammer following the blast wave from a solar flare. It is those vibrations which heat the corona to intense temperatures, often many times hotter than the surface of the sun itself. Recent observations by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft indicate that the corona may be millions of times more viscous than previously expected, thus explaining why the medium of solar plasma has a higher than expected level of molecular friction.
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| ITEM (2): TRACE ANIMATION - The TRACE spacecraft is one of NASA's Small Explorer spacecraft. Launched aboard a Pegasus rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in April 1998, TRACE studies the magnetic field of the solar atmosphere. Working in conjunction with the SOHO spacecraft, TRACE is tasked with the primary mission of unraveling some of the mysteries surrounding the solar corona.
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| ITEM (3): INTERVIEW EXCERPTS WITH DR. LEON OFMAN, TRACE PROJECT SCIENTIST - Dr. Ofman talks about the latest images.
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