NASA Spacecraft Track Solar Storms From Sun To Earth
Despite many instruments that monitor the Sun and a fleet of near-earth probes, the connection between near-Earth disturbances and their counterparts on the Sun has been obscure, because CMEs and the solar wind evolve and change during the 93,000,000 mile journey from the Sun to the Earth.
STEREO includes "heliospheric imager" cameras that monitor the sky at large angles from the Sun, but the starfield and galaxy are 1,000 times brighter than the faint rays of sunlight reflected by free-floating electron clouds inside CMEs and the solar wind; this has made direct imaging of these important structures difficult or impossible, and limited understanding of the connection between space storms and the coronal structures that cause them.
Newly released imagery reveals absolute brightness of detailed features in a large geoeffective CME in late 2008, connecting the original magnetized structure in the Sun's corona to the intricate anatomy of an interplanetary storm as it impacted the Earth three days later. At the time the data were collected, in late 2008, STEREO-A was nearly 45 degrees ahead of the Earth in its orbit, affording a very clear view of the Earth-Sun line.
For the press conference Visual 1, a visualization of the STEREO orbits and the 2008 CME, go here.
For Visual 7, a CME and reconnection animation, go here.
For Visual 8, footage of the October 2003 solar storms, go here.
For complete transcript, click here.
Credit: NASA/SwRI/STEREO
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SwRI/STEREO/WIND
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SwRI/STEREO
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/CCMC



Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SwRI/STEREO

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SwRI/STEREO
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Credits
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. However, each element should be credited as indicated above.
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Animators
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
- Walt Feimer (HTSI)
- Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
- Craig DeForest (SwRI)
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Video editors
- Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
- Swarupa Nune (Vantage)
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Narrator
- Joycelyn Thomson Jones (NASA/GSFC)
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Producers
- Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
- Swarupa Nune (Vantage)
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Scientists
- Craig DeForest (SwRI)
- David Webb (Boston College)
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Writers
- Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
- Craig DeForest (SwRI)
- Swarupa Nune (Vantage)
- Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, August 18, 2011.
This page was last updated on Monday, January 6, 2025 at 1:15 AM EST.
Series
This page can be found in the following series:Tapes
The media on this page originally appeared on the following tapes:-
NASA Spacecraft Track Solar Storms From Sun To Earth
(ID: 2011088)
Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 4:00AM
Produced by - Robert Crippen (NASA)
Datasets used
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[STEREO]
ID: 169The STEREO mission consists of two Sun-observing spacecraft that will travel around the Sun on orbits slightly inside and slightly outside Earth's orbit.
This dataset can be found at: https://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.