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The spooky sun HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS NEWS RELEASE Posted: October 31, 2006
The photograph shows the sun's corona - the top layer of the sun's atmosphere, a region of extremely rarefied gases heated to millions of degrees. During the current, quiet phase of solar activity (sunspot minimum), the corona is dominated by small regions of closed magnetic field (called X-ray Bright Points) and large dark areas where the magnetic field of the sun extends into interplanetary space (called Coronal Holes). There is also a low level of activity as a few small active regions emerge from inside the sun. The bright region in the inset box shows magnetic fields that have just emerged from the solar interior, producing a new active region. When the image is seen at full resolution, compact loops of 3-million-degree gas are clearly seen. Movies made from sequences of images will show how the corona evolves, and what conditions lead to the entire range of solar activity from flares and large-scale eruptions to small-scale magnetic reconnection events and explosive jets. The Hinode spacecraft (formerly Solar-B) carries three telescopes. This image was taken with the X-ray Telescope developed jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Hinode's X-ray Telescope is the highest resolution solar X-ray telescope ever flown. It will show the structure and dynamics of the corona over a wide range of temperatures and a broad field of view. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe. |
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The twin STEREO space observatories designed to change the way we view the sun launch from Cape Canaveral aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket.
With launch of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite from space shuttle Discovery in September 1991, a new era in studying Earth's environment from space began. The crew of STS-48 describes the mission in this post-flight film, which includes an beautiful nighttime flyover of the United States.
Astronauts, rodents and jellyfish were the subjects during extensive medical tests performed aboard the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission launched in June 1991 aboard shuttle Columbia. A space laboratory module riding in the payload bay housed the experiment facilities. The crew of STS-40 explain the mission in this post-flight film.
A progress report on development of the Orion crew exploration spacecraft and the Ares launch vehicle is given during this briefing held October 18 at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
Some of the initial pictures and data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter since the craft entered its mapping orbit around the Red Planet are presented in this news briefing held October 16 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Space shuttle Discovery's STS-39 flight, launched in April 1991, served as a research mission for the U.S. Department of Defense. An instrument-laden spacecraft for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization was released to watch Discovery perform countless rocket firings and maneuvers, as well as canisters releasing clouds of gas. The crew tells the story of the mission in this post-flight film presentation.