Earth  Sun  Planets and Moons  ID: 4080

Reconnection Fronts - When Satellites Align...

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on September 26, 2013
In July of 2012, a fleet of spacecraft studying Earth's magnetosphere were in an ideal alignment to detect a particle flow predicted in magnetospheric models. The grey mesh shell structure represents the approximate location of the magnetopause.

In this visualization, THEMIS, ARTEMIS (in orbit around the Moon), and Geotail, as well as the particle detectors on the GOES-13 and GOES-15 satellites achieved a good alignment around 09:45 on July 3, 2012 to detect one of the particle flows predicted by magnetospheric models.

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A polar view of the satellite alignments, with and without satellite labels. The visualization slows around the time of the event at July 3, 2012 09:45GMT.
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The satellite alignment with a view moving from a point on the dayside of the Earth and orbiting around to a view beyond the orbit of the Moon. In the process, the camera passes through the magnetosphere.
 

Related

Reconnection Fronts - What the Models Say...
Several NASA Spacecraft Track Energy Through Space

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/several-nasa-spacecraft-track-energy-through-space

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Video Editor
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Producer
Vassilis Angelopoulos (University of California at Berkeley): Scientist
Joachim Raeder (University of New Hampshire): Scientist
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4080

Missions:
THEMIS and ARTEMIS
THEMIS

Data Used:
SSCweb also referred to as: SSCweb ephemerides
Ephemeris - NASA/GSFC Space Physics Data Facility
Satellite ephemerides
view all stories where this data set is used
JPL DE421 also referred to as: DE421
Ephemeris - NASA/JPL
Planetary ephemerides
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
SVS >> Geomagnetic Field
SVS >> Magnetosphere
SVS >> Moon
SVS >> THEMIS
NASA Science >> Earth
NASA Science >> Sun
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons