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Τετάρτη 4 Ιουνίου 2014

Sun Eruption Caught By NASA's Solar Observatory

   

Sun Eruption Caught By NASA's Solar Observatory



Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 1 Ιουν 2014
A coronal mass ejection, or CME,
surged off the side of the sun on May 9, 2014, and NASA's newest solar
observatory caught it in extraordinary detail. This was the first CME
observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, which
launched in June 2013 to peer into the lowest levels of the sun's
atmosphere with better resolution than ever before. Watch the movie to
see how a curtain of solar material erupts outward at speeds of 1.5
million miles per hour.
IRIS must commit to pointing at certain areas
of the sun at least a day in advance, so catching a CME in the act
involves some educated guesses and a little bit of luck.
"We focus in
on active regions to try to see a flare or a CME," said Bart De
Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin Solar &
Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. "And then we wait and
hope that we'll catch something. This is the first clear CME for IRIS so
the team is very excited."
The IRIS imagery focuses in on material
of 30,000 kelvins at the base, or foot points, of the CME. The line
moving across the middle of the movie is the entrance slit for IRIS's
spectrograph, an instrument that can split light into its many
wavelengths -- a technique that ultimately allows scientists to measure
temperature, velocity and density of the solar material behind the slit.
The field of view for this imagery is about five Earths wide and about seven-and-a-half Earths tall.
Lockheed
Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory designed the IRIS
Observatory and manages the mission. NASA's Ames Research Center in
Moffett Field, California, provides mission operations and ground data
systems. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,
manages the Explorers Program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington, D.C.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/a...

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