SPACECRAFT SENDS BEST IMAGES YET OF EARTH'S NORTHERN, SOUTHERN LIGHTS
May 23, 1996 / posted May 28, 1996
Source: NASA HQ Public Affairs Office
Scientists working with NASA's recently launched Polar
satellite today released the best images ever made from space
of the Earth's aurora. The images are being presented at the
meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Baltimore, MD.
The new spacecraft data show remarkably clear views of
the aurora borealis in the daytime. The new images and
information will help scientists to better understand the
transport of energy from the Sun to the Earth by the solar
wind. POLAR also has acquired the first global images of the
Earth's aurora in X-rays.
Data from the spacecraft is transmitted several times
each day via the Deep Space Network to NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, where it is processed and
distributed for analysis. Goddard is managing the program
and is responsible for operating the spacecraft.
Polar was launched from Vandenberg AFB, CA, on Feb. 24.
It is orbiting the Earth every 17-1/2 hours in a large,
elliptical orbit that carries the satellite high over the
northern polar region. The satellite is a principal
component of NASA's Global Geospace Science program, the
first phase of NASA's Solar Connections Program and a primary
U.S. contribution to the International Solar Terrestrial
Physics Program.
The images from Polar may be viewed and downloaded from
the Internet at the following URL:
http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/newsroom/flash/flash.htm
Editor's Note: News media may obtain copies of these
images by contacting the Goddard Public Affairs Office.
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