A Slice of Light: How IRIS Observes the Sun

Credits

• Visualizer

  • Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]

• Writer

  • Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.) [Lead]

• Scientists

  • Adrian Daw (NASA/GSFC)
  • Bart De Pontieu (Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab)

• Producer

  • Genna Duberstein (ADNET Systems, Inc.) [Lead]

Related Pages

• Related

  • 

    ID: 11916 Produced Video

    Taking A Slice Of Light

    July 23rd, 2015
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Sometimes studying the sun requires looking at it one strip at a time. || c-1920.jpg (1920x1080) [542.3 KB] || c-1280.jpg (1280x720) [361.9 KB] || c-1024.jpg (1024x576) [269.6 KB] || c-1024_print.jpg (1024x576) [257.0 KB] || c-1024_searchweb.png (320x180) [121.9 KB] || c-1024_thm.png (80x40) [26.6 KB] ||

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  • 

    ID: 4318 Visualization

    A Slice of Light: How IRIS Observes the Sun

    June 26th, 2015
    (updated Nov. 12th, 2023)

    Short version of the IRIS visualization with windowed SJI imagery. || SDO304IRISspectraWin4.2015MarA_stand.HD1080i.00400_print.jpg (1024x576) [122.9 KB] || SDO304IRISspectraWin4.2015MarA_stand.HD1080i.00400_searchweb.png (320x180) [95.6 KB] || SDO304IRISspectraWin4.2015MarA_stand.HD1080i.00400_thm.png (80x40) [7.6 KB] || SDO304IRISspectraWin4_1080p.mp4 (1920x1080) [22.3 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/Windowed.short/ (1920x1080) [128.0 KB] || SDO304IRISspectraWin4_1080p.webm (1920x1080) [4.3 MB] ||

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  • 

    ID: 4146 Visualization

    IRIS close-up of a solar flare

    Feb. 21st, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The Slit-Jaw Imager (SJI) aboard IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) observes a tiny region of the Sun at an image resolution (0.166 arc-seconds per pixel) almost four times higher than the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) (0.6 arc-seconds per pixel). In addition, IRIS has a narrow slit in the imaging plane (the thin, dark vertical line in the center of the inset) which directs some of the light to a spectrograph which allows solar physicists to determine velocity and temperature of the solar plasma.In this zoom-in from a full-disk view of the Sun from SDO, the imager is observering the Sun at a wavelength of 133nm (1330 angstroms). The imager field-of-view is moved across the solar disk in four steps, allowing the slit to pass over different regions of the Sun to determine the properties of the plasma.Note: IRIS and SDO are in very different orbits. You can see samples of the orbits at The 2013 Earth-Orbiting Heliophysics Fleet. IRIS is in a near-Earth orbit, while SDO is much higher at geosynchronous orbit. This difference in camera location creates a small parallax between the images composited from these two cameras. ||

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  • 

    ID: 11483 Produced Video

    NASA's IRIS Spots Its Largest Solar Flare

    Feb. 21st, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    On Jan. 28, 2014, NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, witnessed its strongest solar flare since it launched in the summer of 2013. Solar flares are bursts of x-rays and light that stream out into space, but scientists don't yet know the fine details of what sets them off. IRIS peers into a layer of the sun's lower atmosphere just above the surface, called the chromosphere, with unprecedented resolution. However, IRIS can't look at the entire sun at the same time, so the team must always make decisions about what region might provide useful observations. On Jan. 28, scientists spotted a magnetically active region on the sun and focused IRIS on it to see how the solar material behaved under intense magnetic forces. At 2:40 p.m. EST, a moderate flare, labeled an M-class flare — which is the second strongest class flare after X-class – erupted from the area, sending light and x-rays into space. IRIS studies the layer of the sun’s atmosphere called the chromosphere that is key to regulating the flow of energy and material as they travel from the sun's surface out into space. Along the way, the energy heats up the upper atmosphere, the corona, and sometimes powers solar events such as this flare. IRIS is equipped with an instrument called a spectrograph that can separate out the light it sees into its individual wavelengths, which in turn correlates to material at different temperatures, velocities and densities. The spectrograph on IRIS was pointed right into the heart of this flare when it reached its peak, and so the data obtained can help determine how different temperatures of plasma flow where, giving scientists more insight into how flares work. ||

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  • 

    ID: 11256 Produced Video

    IRIS: Studying the Energy Flow that Powers the Solar Atmosphere

    June 19th, 2013
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    In late June 2013, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. IRIS will tease out the rules governing the lowest layers of the solar atmosphere — historically some of the hardest to untangle. Known as the solar interface region, this is one of the most complex areas in the sun's atmosphere: all the energy that drives solar activity travels through it. The interface region lies between the sun’s 6,000-degree, white-hot, visible surface, the photosphere, and the much hotter multi-million-degree upper corona. Interactions between the violently moving plasma and the sun’s magnetic field in this area may well be the source of the energy that heats the corona to its million-degree temperatures, some hundreds and occasionally thousands of times hotter than the sun's surface. The chromosphere is also considered a candidate as the origin for giant explosions on the sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. IRIS will use high-resolution images, data and advanced computer models to unravel how solar gases move, gather energy and heat up through the lower solar atmosphere. Outfitted with state-of-the-art tools, IRIS will be able to tease apart what's happening in the solar interface region better than ever before. ||

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