NASA - From the Sun to Earth: The 1 August 2010 Solar Event

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From the Sun to Earth: The 1 August 2010 Solar Event

12.13.10

New observations of the Sun indicate that the search for the factors that play a role in the initiation and evolution of eruptive and explosive events, sought after for improved space-weather forecasting, requires knowledge of much, if not all, of the solar surface field. The combination of SDO and STEREO observations enable us to view much of the solar surface and atmosphere simultaneously and continuously.

The August 1, 2010 solar event as recorded by SDO/AIA

AGU Fall 2010 Briefing Speakers/Presenters

Madhulika Guhathakurta, program scientist, SDO and STEREO missions, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Alan Title, Lockheed Martin, principal investigator, SDO/AIA, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
Karel Schrijver, lead scientist, SDO/AIA, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
Rodney Viereck, director of research, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, Boulder, Colo.

Images and Multimedia in Support of Briefing

Presenter: Madhulika Guhathakurta, program scientist, SDO and STEREO missions, NASA
› View corresponding PDF

	Video 1: Even though the sun appears to be a constant, it is only a limitation of human eyes. Modern telescopes and spacecraft have penetrated the sun’s blinding glare and found a maelstrom of unpredictable turmoil on the surface. But the sun also produces solar wind, it spews a hot million miles per hour wind of charged particles throughout the solar system, planets, comets, asteroids… they all feel it. In this dramatic footage from one of the STEREO spacecraft we are able to witness this blowing out of solar wind. What you just saw was comet Encke’s tail ripped apart by this wind. Credit: NASA/STEREO › View associated video
	Heliophysics Overview Understanding the Sun-Earth connection
	Video 1: This image provides the rationale for why we study the sun. The upper half shows the sun's influence on Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, mesosphere, interaction with the atmosphere of other planets and understanding basic physical processes of magnetized plasma. The lower half shows the increasing vulnerability of human society to solar flares and coronal mass ejections." Credit: NASA › View associated video

Presenter: Alan Title, principal investigator SDO/AIA, Lockheed Martin

Alan Title Presentation
› View corresponding PDF

Presenter: Karel Schrijver, lead scientist, SDO/AIA, Lockheed Martin
› Download Schrijver Presentation

› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 1
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› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 6 The solar corona on 2010/10/21, observed by SDO’s AIA. The false colors represent images taken with different filters that are sensitive to distinct coronal temperatures: blue for one million degrees, green for 1.5 million, and red for 2 million. The movie shows three essentially simultaneous eruptions: one filament eruption near the center of the disk, and two at opposite sides of the Sun, together spanning over a million miles. › View associated video Movie courtesy of the SDO/AIA team.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 7 The solar corona on 2010/08/01, observed by SDO’s AIA. The false colors represent images taken with different filters that are sensitive to distinct coronal temperatures: blue for one million degrees, green for 1.5 million, and red for 2 million. The movie shows a series of flares and eruptions, some simultaneous, others in close succession. These events together caused half a dozen coronal mass ejection shooting into interplanetary space, some of which caused geomagnetic storms around Earth. › View associated video › View extreme close-up video Movie courtesy of the SDO/AIA team.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 8 These image sequences were taken by the twin STEREO spacecraft looking at the Sun from opposite sides. The bottom pair shows the Sun and its immediate surroundings. The top row shows events from the Sun, past the inner planets Mercury and Venus, then past the Earth and beyond, projected against the starry sky and the Milky Way. › View associated video Movie courtesy of the STEREO team.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 9 Observations of the magnetic field of the Sun by SDO’s HMI (within the dashed circle), combined with a computer program to assemble a complete picture from snapshots of the rotating Sun, enable us to piece together a complete magnetic map. But things happening on the farside of the Sun still come as a surprise when regions rotate onto the front side as seen from Earth. This movie shows the magnetic field from the perspectives of SDO and STEREO, interpolating knowledge of the surface field from past to future and back: three new regions (in the dotted oval) appeared while on the farside. › View associated video Movie courtesy of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 10 Observations of the magnetic field of the Sun by SDO’s HMI, combined with a computer program to assemble a complete picture from snapshots of the rotating Sun, enable us to piece together a complete magnetic map. But things happening on the farside of the Sun still come as a surprise when regions rotate onto the front side as seen from Earth. This movie shows the magnetic field from the perspectives of SDO and STEREO, interpolating knowledge of the surface field from past to future and back: three new regions (in the dotted oval) appeared while on the farside. The 3D shape of the overlying magnetic field is shown by sets of magnetic field lines, repeated in each panel as seen from different perspectives. › View associated video Movie courtesy of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 11 The Sun from three perspectives on 2010/08/01. The left and right image sets are from the SECCHI instruments on the STEREO spacecraft trailing behind (left) and leading (right) the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. The center images are from the SDO AIA instrument. All images were takin in the He II 304A channels, which shows the extreme ultraviolet solar atmosphere for temperatures around 50,000 degrees. › View STEREO Behind video › View SDO video › View STEREO Ahead video Movies courtesy of the STEREO and SDO/AIA science teams.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 12 The solar corona, as observed by SDO’s AIA, for temperatures from 1 million degrees (blue), through 1.5 million (green), and 2 million (red), on 2010/08/01. This image serves as a background for magnetic field lines that are computed based on information known from past observations to future observations. We know that new magnetic field emerged onto the Sun while behind the visible disk, but we do not know exactly when and in what order. With this visualization, we can at least establish where the biggest changes resulted from this emergence of field, although the detailed changes will not reflect reality. The locations of the major changes coincide with major solar activity on 2010/08/01. › View associated video Movie courtesy of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory.
› View larger	Schrijver Powerpoint Page 13 The solar corona on 2010/08/01, observed by SDO’s AIA. The false colors represent images taken with different filters that are sensitive to distinct coronal temperatures: blue for one million degrees, green for 1.5 million, and red for 2 million. The movie shows a series of flares and eruptions, some simultaneous, others in close succession. These events together caused half a dozen coronal mass ejection shooting into interplanetary space, some of which caused geomagnetic storms around Earth. › View associated video Movie courtesy of the SDO/AIA team.