THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm

  • Released Monday, December 10, 2007
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NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.

Opening with a view over the North geographic pole, we see the five THEMIS satellites moving along their common orbit. The camera then moves down into the equatorial plane and behind the Earth before we fade in the isosurface enclosing the regions where particles have at least 5keV of energy.

A view of the five THEMIS satellites (the color dots) from a location above the north geographic pole.

A view of the five THEMIS satellites (the color dots) from a location above the north geographic pole.

The camera moves down near the equatorial plane presenting a side view of the satellites in their orbits.

The camera moves down near the equatorial plane presenting a side view of the satellites in their orbits.

Zooming in on the location of the satellites...

Zooming in on the location of the satellites...

we move to a location behind the Earth.

we move to a location behind the Earth.

Red isosurfaces fade in, representing the boundary of regions where electron temperature (AKA mean energy) exceeds 5 kilo-electron volts.

Red isosurfaces fade in, representing the boundary of regions where electron temperature (AKA mean energy) exceeds 5 kilo-electron volts.

The boundaries of the high-energy electrons engulf the THEMIS satellites.

The boundaries of the high-energy electrons engulf the THEMIS satellites.

Energetic electrons continue to flow around the satellites.

Energetic electrons continue to flow around the satellites.

The substorm begins to subside around 11:30UTC.

The substorm begins to subside around 11:30UTC.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/auroras/northern_lights.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Monday, December 10, 2007.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.

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