Tracking solar storms.Sitting in the sun on a warm day can be relaxing, but the sun is not a peaceful place. Every two days or so, our star spits out a billion-ton cloud of particles that go racing into space. These solar storms Solar storm can refer to:
n. A large eruption of plasma from the sun's corona that extends 8,000,000 kilometers (5,000,000 miles) into space. coronal mass ejection . The particles in the storms have electric charges. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Once in a while, the particles hit Earth. When they do, they can knock out power systems on land and interrupt satellites in space. Now, for the first time, scientists have been able to follow coronal mass ejections from inside the sun's atmosphere all the way to Earth's orbit. This makes it possible for them to better predict when the particles might hit Earth. A pair of spacecraft spacecraft Vehicle designed to operate, with or without a crew, in a controlled flight pattern above Earth's lower atmosphere. Since streamlining is not needed in the high vacuum of this environment, a spacecraft's shape is designed according to its mission (see collects the measurements. One craft travels in front of Earth in its orbit around the sun. The other craft follows Earth. Together, the spacecraft make up the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory observatory, scientific facility especially equipped to detect and record naturally occurring scientific phenomena. Although geological and meteorological observatories exist, the term is generally applied to astronomical observatories. (STEREO). In the past, attempts to monitor coronal mass ejections focused on the sun from places along the line between the sun and Earth. But that view is too narrow. It doesn't let scientists track the storms as accurately as they'd like. STEREO provides a better perspective. Each STEREO craft has five telescopes that can view a coronal mass ejection at various points along its path. Scientists follow the particles by piecing together images from all the telescopes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The new images were taken in late January. They show a coronal mass ejection that is shaped like a crescent moon crescent moon Mary often depicted standing on or above moon. [Christian Iconog.: Brewer Dictionary, 726] See : Ascension as is lifts off the sun. The storm then fans out and becomes wavier as it travels. Scientists suspect that the coronal mass ejection changed shape--from a smooth crescent to a wavy one--because it interacted with 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. . This breeze of charged particles charged particle n. An elementary particle, such as a proton or electron, with a positive or negative electric charge. blows constantly from the sun. A better understanding of this interaction will help scientists make more accurate predictions about how quickly solar storms will travel to Earth. By April, the two STEREO craft will be far enough apart to take three-dimensional pictures of the sun and its storms.--E. Sohn |
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