Sampling the sun. (Astronomy).Late in November, NASA's Genesis spacecraft opened its collector arrays and began gathering samples of the solar wind solar wind, stream of ionized hydrogen—protons and electrons—with an 8% component of helium ions and trace amounts of heavier ions that radiates outward from the sun at high speeds. , the breeze of ions that flows from the sun's outer layers. Positioned at the point where Earth's gravity Earth's gravity, denoted by g, refers to the attractive force that the Earth exerts on objects on or near its surface (or, more generally, objects anywhere in the Earth's vicinity). balances that of the sun, the craft will collect samples for 30 months. If all goes according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. plan, Genesis will return to Earth in 2004 and release a capsule capsule In botany, a dry fruit that opens when ripe. It splits from top to bottom into separate segments known as valves, as in the iris, or forms pores at the top (e.g., poppy), or splits around the circumference, with the top falling off (e.g., pigweed and plantain). containing the samples. Caught in midair by helicopter, the capsule will be flown to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the solar wind samples distributed to scientists. --R.C. |
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