Sun  Planets and Moons  ID: 3569

THEMIS Dayside Science - Sampling the Bow Shock

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on December 16, 2008
In the early part of the mission, the five THEMIS satellites follow the same orbit single-file. The apogee of the orbit takes the spacecraft just beyond the bow shock of Earth's magnetosphere. This enables the closely spaced satellites to measure the thickness of the different regions that they encounter.
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The movie zooms up to the Earth from the direction of the magnetotail to view the orbits of the THEMIS satellites in their dayside orbital configuration.
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We start out looking along the line of Earth's magnetotail for a view of the Sun, the Earth, and the orbit of the Moon.
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Moving Earthward, just outside the boundary of the magnetosphere, we move to a position above the Moon's orbital plane.
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We move closer to the Earth.
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Now we get a view of the Earth and the orbits of the five THEMIS spacecraft. The yellow arrow reminds us of the direction to the Sun (which determines the direction of the magnetosphere).
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We move in a little closer to better observe the satellites as their orbits carry them in and out of the magnetosphere. This enables them to sample particles and fields in the solar wind outside the magnetsphere and their effects on the magnetosphere as well.
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The spacecraft move back into the magnetosphere towards perigee...
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and then pass back into the solar wind...
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Another orbit completed...

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC): Producer
David G. Sibeck (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Joachim Raeder (University of New Hampshire): Scientist
Marit Oieroset (University of California at Berkeley): 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/3569

Mission:
THEMIS

Data Used:
THEMIS
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SSCweb also referred to as: SSCweb ephemerides
Ephemeris - NASA/GSFC Space Physics Data Facility - 2007-06-01 to 2008-06-10
Satellite ephemerides
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Hipparcos/Telescope/Hipparcos Catalogue
Database
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Hipparcos/Telescope/Tycho 2 Catalogue also referred to as: Tycho Catalogue
Database
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:
Breach in the Bowshock

Keywords:
SVS >> Geomagnetic Field
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Magnetosphere
SVS >> Moon
SVS >> Solar Wind
SVS >> Space Weather
SVS >> THEMIS
NASA Science >> Sun
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons