Earth Sun ID: 10809

NASA Spacecraft Track Solar Storms From Sun To Earth

Released on August 18, 2011

NASA's STEREO spacecraft and new data processing techniques have succeeded in tracking space weather events from their origin in the Sun's ultrahot corona to impact with the Earth 93 million miles away, resolving a 40-year mystery about the structure of the structures that cause space weather: how the structures that impact the Earth relate to the corresponding structures in the solar corona.

Despite many instruments that monitor the Sun and a fleet of near-earth probes, the connection between near-Earth disturbances and their counterparts on the Sun has been obscure, because CMEs and the solar wind evolve and change during the 93,000,000 mile journey from the Sun to the Earth.

STEREO includes "heliospheric imager" cameras that monitor the sky at large angles from the Sun, but the starfield and galaxy are 1,000 times brighter than the faint rays of sunlight reflected by free-floating electron clouds inside CMEs and the solar wind; this has made direct imaging of these important structures difficult or impossible, and limited understanding of the connection between space storms and the coronal structures that cause them.

Newly released imagery reveals absolute brightness of detailed features in a large geoeffective CME in late 2008, connecting the original magnetized structure in the Sun's corona to the intricate anatomy of an interplanetary storm as it impacted the Earth three days later. At the time the data were collected, in late 2008, STEREO-A was nearly 45 degrees ahead of the Earth in its orbit, affording a very clear view of the Earth-Sun line.

For the press conference Visual 1, a visualization of the STEREO orbits and the 2008 CME, go here.

For Visual 7, a CME and reconnection animation, go here.

For Visual 8, footage of the October 2003 solar storms, go here.

Newly reprocessed images from NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft, allow scientists to trace the anatomy of the December 2008 CME as it moves and changes on its journey from the Sun to the Earth, identify the origin and structure of the material that impacted Earth, and connect the image data directly with measurements at Earth at the time of impact. The gauge shows solar wind density measured by NASA's WIND spacecraft near Earth. When the piled up wall passes Earth, the wind gauge, from direct samples by the WIND spacecraft, pegs at 20 atoms per CC, then drops back to near zero. Wind density measurements agree closely with density estimates calculated from the brightness.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SwRI/STEREO/WIND

Graphic showing launch dates of Heliophysics System Observatory missions plotted on a solar cycle timeline. Credit: NASA

Graphic depicting current and future Heliophysics System Observatory missions in their approximate regions of study. Credit: NASA

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/multimedia/20110818_briefing_materials.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/news/solarstorm-tracking.html

Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
Walt Feimer (HTSI): Animator
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Animator
Craig DeForest (SwRI): Animator
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Video Editor
Swarupa Nune (Vantage): Video Editor
Joycelyn Thomson Jones (NASA/GSFC): Narrator
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer
Swarupa Nune (Vantage): Producer
Craig DeForest (SwRI): Scientist
David Webb (Boston College): Scientist
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Writer
Craig DeForest (SwRI): Writer
Swarupa Nune (Vantage): Writer
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. However, each element should be credited as indicated above.

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10809

Missions:
STEREO
SDO

Data Used:

STEREO

The STEREO mission consists of two Sun-observing spacecraft that will travel around the Sun on orbits slightly inside and slightly outside Earth's orbit.

https://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov

view all stories where this data set is used