MMS Fly Along with Magnetopause Reconnection

From a wide view of the MMS orbit, this visualization zooms down to the four spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. This visualization travels along with the four MMS spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). This view illustrates the dramatic changes in the magnetic field measurements as the spacecraft travel between the plasma 'bubbles' in this region. The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. This version has a lower time resolution (0.15 seconds per frame) so some detail is lost. This visualization is frame-synchronized with the animated graph. From a wide view of the MMS orbit, this visualization zooms down to the four spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. From a wide view of the MMS orbit, this visualization zooms down to the four spacecraft as they move between the magnetopause and bow shock. Along the track of each spacecraft we see the measured magnetic field vectors (magenta arrows) and the measured current vectors (green arrows). The energetic event of interest occurs at clock time of 09:03:54.3 TAI. Animated plot of current measured by the MMS spacecraft. This animation is frame-synchronized with the DataTour visualization above. It also plots the data at a higher time-resolution than DataTour. Colors correspond to the spacecraft doing the measurement. Red=MMS1, blue=MMS2, cyan=MMS3, yellow=MMS4. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission consists of four identical satellites that traverse various regions of Earth's magnetosphere measuring the particles and electric and magnetic field which influence them.In the turbulent plasma between Earth's magnetopause and bow shock, a region called the magnetosheath, the MMS satellite constellation has measured multiple jets of energetic electrons between magnetic bubbles. This appears to be a new 'flavor' of magnetic reconnection based on electrons and occuring on smaller time and spatial scales than the standard model of magnetic reconnection with ions.In these data visualizations, the arrows represent the data collected by the spacecraft. To better comprehend changes as the spacecraft moves along, the data are allowed to 'echo' along the spacecraft trail. The length of the vectors represent the relative magnitude of the vector. However, the electron and proton vectors are scaled so equal velocities correspond to vectors of equal magnitude.Magenta represents the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field at the spacecraft position.Green represents the direction and magnitude of the net electric current created by the motion of the electrons and ions measured at the spacecraft position.The four MMS spacecraft are represented by colored spheres, corresponding to the plotted data lines in the lower graphicMMS1MMS2MMS3MMS4The clocks on MMS are synchronized for the TAI (International Atomic Time) system provided through the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. It provides a high-precision time reference for comparing MMS measurements to other datasets. Related pages

The visualization starts with an overview of the MMS orbit. Closing in on MMS near the magnetopause. Closeup on the MMS tetrahedral formation. The spacecraft are about 10 kilometers from each other. Early sampling of the data near magnetopause passage. Note the magnetic field (magenta arrows) appears fairly uniform. Near the height of the reconnection event, electrons (yellow) are flying in all directions. This visualization starts with the viewer camera just outside earth's magnetosphere (the faint grey mesh) looking down on the orbit of the four MMS spacecraft. During this portion of the mission, the apogee of the orbit takes the spacecraft just outside the magnetopause. The lower orbit speed at this location maximizes the time spent there and increases chances of catching a reconnection event which is the goal of the mission.The camera zooms in to a chase of the four spacraft, simultaneously altering the timescale so each movie frame has a smaller time between them. We catch up with the four spacecraft and see the tetrahedral flying formation.The MMS spacecraft are not always collecting data. Due to telemetry limitations, the data is collected in segments, at different sampling rates, and then downloaded to ground-stations on Earth. In this close-up view, we see two segments of data collection, with a short gap of no data between them.The arrows represent the data collected by the spacecraft. To better comprehend changes as the spacecraft moves along, the data are allowed to 'echo' along the spacecraft trail. The length of the vectors represent the relative magnitude of the vector. However, the electron and proton vectors are scaled so equal velocities correspond to vectors of equal magnitude.Magenta represents the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field at the spacecraft position.Yellow represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the electrons measured at the spacecraft position.Blue represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the protons measured at the spacecraft position. Related pages

A slow fly-around of the MMS tetrahedral formation to better view the 3-dimensional structure of the data. In this data visualization, we fly around with the MMS spacecraft in tetrahedral formation. The mesh structure in the distance is the magnetopause.Each image frame corresponds to a time step of 30 milliseconds, one of the faster data sampling modes for MMS. The arrows represent the data collected by the spacecraft. To better comprehend changes as the spacecraft moves along, the data are allowed to 'echo' along the spacecraft trail. The length of the vectors represent the relative magnitude of the vector. However, the electron and proton vectors are scaled so equal velocities correspond to vectors of equal magnitude.Magenta represents the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field at the spacecraft position.Yellow represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the electrons measured at the spacecraft position.Blue represents the direction and magnitude of the bulk motion (total average) velocity of the protons measured at the spacecraft position. Related pages