| Services |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Channels |
| Home & Family |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Leisure |
|
|
|
|
| Technology |
|
|
|
|
|
| Business |
|
|
|
|
| Science |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site Search  |
|
|
|
|
| Free email |
|
|
|
|
 |
Chandra looks back at the Earth |
| TheallIneed.com/NC&T/CXC |
While other satellite observations had previously detected high-energy X-rays from the Earth auroras, the latest Chandra observations reveal low-energy X-rays generated for the first time during auroral activity.
The researchers, led by Dr. Ron Elsner of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., used Chandra to observe the Earth 10 times over a four-month period in 2004. The images were created from approximately 20-minute scans during which Chandra was aimed at a fixed point in the sky and the Earth's motion carried the auroral regions through Chandra's field of view.
From the ground, the aurora are known to change dramatically over time, and this is also the case in X-ray light. The X-rays in this sample of the Chandra observations, which have been superimposed on an approximate representation of the Earth, are seen here.
 | | X-ray Images of Earth Aurora. (Photo: NASA/MSFC/CXC/A.Bhardwaj & R.Elsner, et al.; Earth model: NASA/GSFC/L.Perkins & G.Shirah) |
Auroras are produced by solar storms that eject clouds of energetic charged particles. These particles are deflected when they encounter the Earth's magnetic field, but in the process large electric voltages are created. Electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetic field are accelerated by these voltages and spiral along the magnetic field into the polar regions. There they collide with atoms high in the atmosphere and emit X-rays. Chandra has also observed dramatic auroral activity on Jupiter.
Dr. Anil Bhardwaj is the lead author on a paper describing these results in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. Dr. Bhardwaj was a co-investigator on this project and worked with Dr. Elsner at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center while this research was conducted.
|
| About the Author |
©2005 All rights reserved
|
|
|
| Quotes | A smart man covers his butt, a wise man simply leaves his pants on.
C.D. Bailey
History, here I come!
Edmund Blackadder
How many frickin times do I have to say, In the form of a question, people?!?
Alex Trebek
|
| Writers | | If you are a writer and want to see your article published at Theallineed.com, just click here to submit. |
|
Active 2008 Hurricane Season Predictions Reinforce the Need to Prepare
Fabulous Fremantle: Western Australia's shoppers paradise