Sun  ID: 2861

Reconnection: Solar Wind Breaches the Earth's Magnetic Shield

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on December 4, 2003
The Far Ultraviolet camera aboard the IMAGE spacecraft captured this view of a proton aurora (the bright spot near the center of the view) as well as the ring of the electron aurora. The protons for this aurora came from the incoming solar wind. They made it though the Earth's magnetic shield in a magnetic reconnection event higher in the magnetosphere which was detected by the Cluster satellite. Note: A 'corner' appears in the data in the beginning as the IMAGE spacecraft moves into a position where it can view the entire north polar region.
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A movie of the IMAGE-FUV view of the aurora, re-projected onto the Earth's polar cap.
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A bright moment for the proton aurora - the bright spot near the center.
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The proton aurora begins to fade.

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1203image_cluster.html

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Harald Frey (University of California at Berkeley): Scientist
Tai Phan (University of California at Berkeley): Scientist
William Steigerwald (NASA/GSFC): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2861

Mission:
IMAGE

Data Used:
IMAGE/FUV
2000-09-18T01:29:00 - 2000-09-18T09:28:48
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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:
Proton Aurora

Goddard TV Tape:
G2003-068

Keywords:
SVS >> Earth
SVS >> Magnetic Reconnection
SVS >> Magnetosphere
SVS >> Solar Wind
DLESE >> Space science
SVS >> Space Weather
SVS >> For Educators
NASA Science >> Sun
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics >> Aurorae
SVS >> Far Ultraviolet Imaging
SVS >> FUV Imaging

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