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

  • Released Friday, September 30, 2005
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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 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 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.

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.

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 data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

X-Ray emissions colortable

X-Ray emissions colortable

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

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.

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.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

Credits

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

Series

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Datasets used

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.

This page was originally published on Friday, September 30, 2005.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.