Earth  Sun  ID: 783

Polar Visible Aurora: North Pole Comparison between May 11, 1999 and November 13, 1999 (Continents)

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on December 8, 1999
On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Sun's corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earth's magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earth's North Pole.
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A comparison of images of the aurora over the North Pole on May 11, 1999, when there was no solar wind, and November 13, 1999, during normal solar wind conditions.
 

Alternate Version

Polar Visible Aurora: North Pole Comparison Between May 11, 1999 and November 13, 1999 (Grid)

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
David Chenette (LMATC): Scientist
John B. Sigwarth (University of Iowa): Scientist
Mike Carlowicz (Wyle Information Systems): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/783

Mission:
Polar

Data Used:
Polar/VIS
1999/05/11, 1999/11/13
view all stories where this data set is used
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:
Polar Aurora

Goddard TV Tape:
G1999-103

Keywords:
SVS >> Comparison
SVS >> Electron Fluxes
DLESE >> Geophysics
DLESE >> Space science
SVS >> Upper Atmosphere
NASA Science >> Earth
NASA Science >> Sun
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics >> Aurorae

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