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Reconnection: Solar Wind Breaches the Earth's Magnetic Shield
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The Far Ultraviolet camera abord the IMAGE spacecraft captured this
view of a proton aurora (the bright spot near the center of the view) as well as the
ring of the electron aurora. The protons for this aurora came from the incoming solar wind.
The made it though the Earth's magnetic shield in a magnetic reconnection event higher in the
magnetosphere which was detected by the Cluster satellite. Note: A 'corner' appears in
the data in the beginning as the IMAGE spacecraft moves into a position where it can view the
entire north polar region.
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A movie of the IMAGE/FUV view of the aurora, re-projected onto the Earth's polar cap.
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6 MB
Download the frames here.
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A bright moment for the proton aurora - the bright spot near the center.
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The proton aurora begins to fade.
View the image:
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4 MB
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Animator: Tom Bridgman
Studio: SVS
Writer: William Steigerwald
Date Completed: December 01, 2003
Duration: 235 frames,
7.8 seconds
Scientist: Harald Frey (University of California Berkeley), Tai Phan (University of California Berkeley)
Instrument: IMAGE/FUV
Keywords: Aurora, Magnetic Reconnection, Earth, Solar Wind
DLESESubject: Space science
Data Collected: 2000-09-18T01:29:00 - 2000-09-18T09:28:48
PAOID: G03-068
Story: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/1203image_cluster.htm
Animation Series: Proton Aurora
Please give credit for this visualization to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio
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