Earth ID: 3165

X-ray Images of the North Polar Region from the Chandra HRC-I Instrument

Visualizations by Lori Perkins Released on September 30, 2005

Here are X-rays images (shown on the same brightness scale) of the north polar region obtained by Chandra HRC-I on different days, showing large variability in soft (0.1-10.0 keV) X-ray emissions from Earth s aurora. Note that the images are not snap shots, but are ~20-min scans of the northern auroral region in the HRC-I field-of-view. The brightness scale in Rayleighs (R) assumes an average effective area of 40 cm2. The day-night terminator at an altitude of 0 km is displayed with lighting. The day-night terminator at an altitude of 100 km is shown by the blue line.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC. The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC. The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC. The terminator at 100 km has been removed.

Visualization Credits

Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Anil Bhardwaj (NASA/MSFC): Scientist
Ron Elsner (NASA/MSFC): Scientist
Randy Gladstone (SwRI): Scientist
Megan Watzke (Harvard): Scientist

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

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3165

Data Used:

Chandra/HRC-I

2004/01/24, 2004/01/30, 2004/02/15, 2004/04/13

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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.

This item is part of this series:
Astrophysics Stills

Keywords:
SVS >> X-ray
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics >> Aurorae

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0