Space Weather

  • Released Thursday, December 1st, 2011
  • Updated Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 12:00AM

Overview

The term "space weather" was coined not long ago to describe the dynamic conditions in the Earth's outer space environment, in the same way that "weather" and "climate" refer to conditions in Earth's lower atmosphere. Space weather includes any and all conditions and events on the sun, in the solar wind, in near-Earth space and in our upper atmosphere that can affect space-borne and ground-based technological systems and through these, human life and endeavor. Heliophysics is the science of space weather.

This gallery organizes satellite footage, animations, visualizations, and edited videos produced at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Visualizations are different from pure animations because they are data-driven. They present a way of "seeing" the data. In the case of orbit visualizations, they are based on actual orbit information. Most of the animations and visualizations are available as frames and all the recent ones are HD quality. All videos are available in several formats and qualities including Apple ProRes for broadcast quality. Unless specifically marked otherwise, all these materials are public domain and free to use. For more infomation about NASA's media use guidelines see this page.

The content is organized in two ways. Under "Facets of Space Weather" you will find our visuals grouped by the subject they address. Under "NASA Spacecraft" you will find our visuals grouped by the satellite they were collected by, or that they refer to. This group also contains animations of the spacecraft themselves.

For breaking news solar events, go to this gallery.

For frequently-asked-question interviews with NASA scientists, go here.

Facets of Space Weather

NASA Spacecraft