Michael Sandras, a member of the Pontchartrain Astronomical Society, explains his solar telescope to students of Second Street in Bay St. Louis, Hancock County and Nicholson elementary schools in StenniSphere's Millennium Hall on April 10. The students participated in several hands-on activities at Stennis Space Center's Sun-Earth Day celebration.
Sun Earth Day Webcast - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortefield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and Visiting Students from San Francisco Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools Paul Langston, Videographer operates camera
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools David Maurantonio, Videographer operates camera
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools
Sun-Earth Day WEBCAST - NASA TV; Host Paul Mortfield, Astronomer Stanford Solar Center and visiting students from San Francisco Bay Area Schools Documentation Technology Branch Video communications van (code-JIT) David Maurantonio, Paul Langston
Kepler-20e is the first planet smaller than the Earth discovered to orbit a star other than the sun. A year on Kepler-20e only lasts 6 days, as it is much closer to its host star than the Earth is to the sun.
Several times a day for a few days this week the Earth completely blocked the Sun for about an hour due to SDO's orbital path (Aug. 25, 2016). The edge of the Earth is not crisp, but rather kind of fuzzy due to Earth's atmosphere. The entire video clip here shows the beginning of one such eclipse, covering just seven minutes. These occur about every six months. The Moon blocks SDO's view of the Sun on occasion as well. A movie is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21027
Several times a day for a few days the Earth completely blocked the Sun for about an hour due to NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory's orbital path (Feb. 15, 2017). The edge of the Earth is not crisp, but kind of fuzzy due to Earth's atmosphere. This frame from a video shows the ending of one such eclipse over -- just seven minutes. The sun is shown in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. These eclipses re-occur about every six months. The Moon blocks SDO's view of the sun on occasion as well. Movies are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21461
A new day dawns on Saturn as the part of the planet is seen emerging once more into the Sun light by NASA Cassini orbiter. With an estimated rotation period of 10 hours and 40 minutes, Saturn days and nights are much shorter than those on Earth.
Earth observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 37 crew. Per Twitter message: Sun glint on the Gulf of Khambhat, India.
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: sun glint near Argentina.
Earth observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 37 crew. Per Twitter message: Sun glint on shallow Lake Chad in Chad & Nigeria.
S125-E-012189 (19 May 2009) --- The thin line of Earth?s atmosphere and the rising sun are featured in this image photographed by an STS-125 crewmember on the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis on flight day nine.
This montage is a sequence of soft x-ray photographs of the boot-shaped coronal hole rotating with the sun. The individual pictures were taken about 2 days apart by the Skylab telescope. Most of the apparent changes in this 6-day period resulted from a changing perspective. Skylab data helped demonstrate that coronal holes are sources of high-velocity streams in the solar wind. These high-velocity streams can be electrons, protons, and atomic nuclei that spray out from the Sun into interplanetary space. When the coronal hole is near the center of the Sun, as in view 2, the sprinkler is directed at Earth. These high-speed streams of solar wind distort Earth's magnetic field and disturb it's upper atmosphere.
ISS044e077073 (08/29/2015) --- The Sun shines brightly off the water of our planet Earth to start the day off for our astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. Science projects, repairs and maintenance fill the days on board the station as it fly's around the Earth.
On Sept. 13, 2015, as NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, kept up its constant watch on the sun, its view was photobombed not once, but twice. Just as the moon came into SDO's field of view on a path to cross the sun, Earth entered the picture, blocking SDO's view completely. When SDO's orbit finally emerged from behind Earth, the moon was just completing its journey across the sun's face. Though SDO sees dozens of Earth eclipses and several lunar transits each year, this is the first time ever that the two have coincided. SDO's orbit usually gives us unobstructed views of the sun, but Earth's revolution around the sun means that SDO's orbit passes behind Earth twice each year, for two to three weeks at a time. During these phases, Earth blocks SDO's view of the sun for anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour once each day. Earth's outline looks fuzzy, while the moon's is crystal-clear. This is because-while the planet itself completely blocks the sun's light-Earth's atmosphere is an incomplete barrier, blocking different amounts of light at different altitudes. However, the moon has no atmosphere, so during the transit we can see the crisp edges of the moon's horizon. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19949
S131-E-007417 (6 April 2010) --- The thin line of Earth's atmosphere, rising sun and space shuttle Discovery are featured in this image photographed by an STS-131 crew member during flight day two activities.
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: US East Coast, sun glint, Cape Cod, NY, DC, Great Lakes.
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: Eastern half of US, sun glint, Texas, Maryland, Mississippi river, Great Lakes.
ISS047e020123 (03/25/2016) --- A golden reflection of the rising sun on the Earths oceans greets the crew of Expedition 47 on board the International Space station. Another day begins for the crew in their pursuit of science that will aid humankind.
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: Heading towards England and sun glint.
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: Afterglow on clouds. Also sent as Twitter message: Sun highlights a storm from underneath.
A small prominence rose up above the sun, appeared to twist around for several hours, and then began to send some streams of plasma back into the sun (Jan. 3-4, 2018). The action, observed in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, lasted just about one day. Prominences like this one are quite common. In fact, there were several over the past few days. For a sense of scale, the prominence reached up more than several times the size of Earth. Movies are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22198
On Oct. 24-25, 2018 a solar prominence rose up above the Sun's surface, twisted and spun around, then became elongated and broke away. Prominences are unstable clouds of cooler plasma suspended above the Sun by strong magnetic forces. They often fall apart after a few days. Although tiny on the scale of the Sun, this prominence stretched out about ten times the diameter of Earth (see inset). Images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Animations are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18140
Illustration of a CME particle cloud blasted from the sun impacting Earth and creating aurora (in actual photo of aurora as taken by an astronaut on the space station). Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
The most distinctive feature on the Sun this week was a good-sized coronal hole at a slanted angle nearly centered on the face of the sun (Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, 2018). Coronal holes are magnetically open areas from which solar wind particles speed into space. They appear darker in this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. If these particles impact Earth's magnetosphere, they will likely generate aurora near the Earth's poles regions. The video clip covers about two days of activity. Movies available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18141
Two good-sized coronal holes have rotated around to the center of the sun where they will be spewing solar wind towards Earth (Nov. 8-9, 2016). Coronal holes are areas of open magnetic field from which solar wind particles stream into space. In this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light they appear as the two dark areas at the center and lower portion of the sun. The stream of particles should reach Earth in a few days and are likely to generate aurora. Videos are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16909
S85-E-5089 (14 August 1997) --- The sun sets on Earth's horizon in this electronic still camera's view photographed on STS-85 flight day 8 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The portside wing of Discovery is pointed toward Earth in the view, captured through windows on the aft flight deck.
ISS043E193911 (05/14/2015) --- Crew members of Expedition 43 on the International Space Station are treated to the spectacular beauty of the Earth day and night. In this image they captured the dying sun as it creates brilliant orange and red streaks contrasted with the darkening Earth and the still blue night sky.
S132-E-007156 (15 May 2010) --- The thin line of Earth's atmosphere and the setting sun are featured in this image photographed by an STS-132 crew member on the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Atlantis during flight day two activities.
S133-E-006253 (25 Feb. 2011) --- Layers of Earth's atmosphere, brightly colored as the sun rises, are featured in this image photographed by an STS-133 crew member on the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Discovery during flight day two activities. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder is labeled as: Random shots of Earth. Black sea and east. Also sent down via Twitter with message: The low sun highlights clouds for hundreds of miles.
Images acquired December 21, 2010 - September 20, 2011. To download the high res and learn more go to: <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248" rel="nofollow">earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248</a> One of the most frequently misunderstood concepts in science is the reason for Earth’s seasons. As we experience the September equinox today—anyone try to balance an egg yet?—we thought we’d offer a space-based view of what’s going on. Around 6 a.m. local time each day, the Sun, Earth, and any geosynchronous satellite form a right angle, affording a nadir (straight down) view of the terminator, where the shadows of nightfall meet the sunlight of dusk and dawn. The shape of this line between night and day varies with the seasons, which means different lengths of days and differing amounts of warming sunshine. (The line is actually a curve because the Earth is round, but satellite images only show it in two-dimensions.) The Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on EUMETSAT's Meteosat-9 captured these four views of the day-night terminator on December 21, 2010, and March 20, June 21, and September 20, 2011. Each image was taken at 6:12 a.m. local time. On March 20 and September 20, the terminator is a straight north-south line, and the Sun is said to sit directly above the equator. On December 21, the Sun resides directly over the Tropic of Capricorn when viewed from the ground, and sunlight spreads over more of the Southern Hemisphere. On June 21, the Sun sits above the Tropic of Cancer, spreading more sunlight in the north and turning the tables on the south. The bulge of our spherical Earth blocks sunlight from the far hemisphere at the solstices; that same curvature allows the Sun’s rays to spread over more area near the top and bottom of the globe. Of course, it is not the Sun that is moving north or south through the seasons, but a change in the orientation and angles between the Earth and its nearest star. The axis of the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane. The axis is tilted away from the Sun at the December solstice and toward the Sun at the June solstice, spreading more and less light on each hemisphere. At the equinoxes, the tilt is at a right angle to the Sun and the light is spread evenly. The equinox and changing of the seasons occurs on September 23, 2011 at 9:05 a.m. Universal Time. (Our September image above is a few days early.) Equinox means "equal night" in Latin, capturing the idea that daytime and nighttime are equal lengths everywhere on the planet. That is true of the Sun's presence above the horizon, though it does not account for twilight, when the Sun's rays extend from beyond the horizon to illuminate our gas-filled atmosphere. <b>NASA images and animation by Robert Simmon, using data ©2010 EUMETSAT. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.</b> Instrument: Meteosat Credit: <b><a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
CME blast and subsequent impact at Earth -- This illustration shows a CME blasting off the Sun’s surface in the direction of Ea CME blast and subsequent impact at Earth -- This illustration shows a CME blasting off the Sun’s surface in the direction of Earth. This left portion is composed of an EIT 304 image superimposed on a LASCO C2 coronagraph. Two to four days later, the CME cloud is shown striking and beginning to be mostly deflected around the Earth’s magnetosphere. The blue paths emanating from the Earth’s poles represent some of its magnetic field lines. The magnetic cloud of plasma can extend to 30 million miles wide by the time it reaches earth. These storms, which occur frequently, can disrupt communications and navigational equipment, damage satellites, and even cause blackouts. (Objects in the illustration are not drawn to scale.) Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
The SDO spacecraft is in another eclipse season as of Feb. 6, 2019. This begins a several week period when the Earth briefly blocks SDO's view of the Sun each day. In fact, because SDO orbits above the Mountain Time zone, the Earth passes between SDO and the Sun at about 7:20 UT (12:20 am MT) each orbit. Eclipses are due to SDO's circular geosynchronous orbit some 22,000 miles above Earth. At the speed we are showing the frames, the eclipse is only a flicker. The still image shows that the edge of Earth, here about halfway across the Sun, looks quite rough due to the absorption of the 304 Å EUV light by our atmosphere. Movies available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21213
Large, eruptive prominence in He II at 304Å, with an image of the Earth added for size comparison. This prominence from 24 July 1999 is particularly large and looping, extending over 35 Earths out from the Sun. Erupting prominences (when Earthward directed) can affect communications, navigation systems, even power grids, while also producing auroras visible in the night skies. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
SOHO's orbit around the Lagrangian L1 point and the Sun Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA Sound: Juan Carlos Garcia To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
STS095-E-5071 (1 Nov. 1998) --- Backdropped against the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, Spartan 201-05 leaves the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The satellite will remain a free-flyer for several days while it records data on the solar wind and the sun's corona. This data is hoped to increase knowledge of the sun's effect on our planet. The Canadian-built remote manipulator system (RMS)is partially visible in the frame. The photograph was taken with an electronic still camera (ESC) at 2:08:48 GMT, November 1.
Animation of a CME leaving the Sun, slamming into our magnetosphere. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA Sound: Juan Carlos Garcia To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
ISS048e002079 (06/19/2016) --- A new day dawns for the crew of Expedition 48 on board the International Space Station on June 19, 2016. This inspiring image shows the golden rays of the the Sun streaming through the multiple layers of clouds to touch the Earth giving it abundant life.
Earth observation taken during a day pass by an Expedition 36 crew member on board the International Space Station (ISS). Per Twitter message: This crisp, sun-lit cloud edge could make one mistakenly think there is a continent below.
Earth Observation taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Folder lists this as: Uruguay Argentina sun glint coastlines. Also sent down via Twitter message: This was the Argentina coastline a few hours ago.
Beads treated to react to ultraviolet light are used to show how the Sun's invisible rays can effect us at one of NASA's exhibits at the Earth Day event on Monday, April 22, 2019, at Union Station in Washington, D.C. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
S133-E-011870 (7 March 2011) --- Layers of Earth's atmosphere, brightly colored as the sun rises, are featured in this image photographed by an STS-133 crew member on space shuttle Discovery during flight day 12 activities. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration
iss060e002090 (June 29, 2019) --- The Earth's limb and the atmospheric glow highlight the thin blue atmosphere back lit by the Sun's rays during a period between night and day. The light of the moon and the starry Milky Way drape the background as the International Space Station orbited 257 miles above the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.
Earth observation taken during day pass by an Expedition 36 crew member on board the International Space Station (ISS). Per Twitter message: Our orbit has often recently been taking us along the terminator, for long periods of low sun & long shadows.
iss060e008812 (July 15, 2019) --- A portion of the International Space Station's main solar arrays drape the foreground as the orbiting lab flew 257 miles above Mongolia and across China. The Sun's rays light up Earth's thin atmosphere during a period between night and day.
ISS028-E-007274 (11 June 2011) --- This view of the sun peeking over the limb of the Earth was taken by the Expedition 28 crew members aboard the International Space Station while flying parallel to the terminator; the area between daylight and nighttime. This lighting condition occurs in the early summer and late fall for the station's orbit tracks. The rest of the year the orbital outpost passes through the terminator at angles to experience 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. All of the layers of the Earth?s atmosphere are depicted in a beautiful array of color lit by the sun; from near the surface to the darkness of space.
![KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The L-1011 aircraft soars through the sky over the Atlantic Ocean with a Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), attached underneath. The rocket will be dropped from the aircraft at 3:14 p.m. EST. Over the next few days, the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. [Photo courtesy of Jeff Caplan, Langley Research]](https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/KSC-03pd0177/KSC-03pd0177~medium.jpg)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The L-1011 aircraft soars through the sky over the Atlantic Ocean with a Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), attached underneath. The rocket will be dropped from the aircraft at 3:14 p.m. EST. Over the next few days, the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. [Photo courtesy of Jeff Caplan, Langley Research]
A long-lasting coronal hole has again rotated around to face the Earth (Nov. 28-30, 2018). This persistent hole - the elongated dark region seen in the still image - first appeared in July and has been observed each rotation of the Sun since. Coronal holes are the source of high-speed solar wind; when this one faced Earth, it sparked outbursts of aurora some of which were observed in our northern tier states. Coronal holes are magnetically open regions on the Sun that can last from days to months, although this one has lasted longer than most. The time-lapse video, taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, covers about two days of activity. Movies available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18144
![KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The L-1011 aircraft soars through the sky over the Atlantic Ocean with a Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), attached underneath. The rocket will be dropped from the aircraft at 3:14 p.m. EST. Over the next few days, the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. [Photo courtesy of Jeff Caplan, Langley Research]](https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/KSC-03pd0178/KSC-03pd0178~medium.jpg)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The L-1011 aircraft soars through the sky over the Atlantic Ocean with a Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), attached underneath. The rocket will be dropped from the aircraft at 3:14 p.m. EST. Over the next few days, the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. [Photo courtesy of Jeff Caplan, Langley Research]
This size and scale of the Kepler-452 system compared alongside the Kepler-186 system and the solar system. Kepler-186 is a miniature solar system that would fit entirely inside the orbit of Mercury. The habitable zone of Kepler-186 is very small compared to that of Kepler-452 or the sun because it is a much smaller, cooler star. The size and extent of the habitable zone of Kepler-452 is nearly the same as that of the sun, but is slightly bigger because Kepler-452 is somewhat older, bigger and brighter. The size of the orbit of Kepler-452b is nearly the same as that of Earth at 1.05 astronomical units (an astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the sun). Kepler-452b orbits its star once every 385 days. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19826
A dark coronal hole that was facing towards Earth for several days spewed streams of solar wind in our direction (Sept. 18-21, 2016). A coronal hole is a magnetically open region. The magnetic fields have opened up allowing solar wind (comprised of charged particles) to stream into space. Gusts of solar wind can generate beautiful aurora when they reach Earth. The video clip shows the sun in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Movies are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21067
S119-E-010690 (27 March 2009) --- On its final full day in space before a scheduled return home on March 28, the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery took some pictures of the home planet. Unlike most of the images, which showed closer views of Earth featuring oceans, lakes, rivers, clouds, mountains and deserts, this view shows Earth's limb as the spacecraft approached a rising or setting sun.
The setting sun and the thin blue airglow line at Earth's horizon was captured by the International Space Station's (ISS) Expedition Three crewmembers with a digital camera. Some of the Station's components are silhouetted in the foreground. The crew was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery STS-105 mission, on August 10, 2001, replacing the Expedition Two crew. After marning the orbiting ISS for 128 consecutive days, the three returned to Earth on December 17, 2001, aboard the STS-108 mission Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour.
A substantial coronal hole began to rotate into view over the past few days (Dec. 1-2, 2016). Coronal holes are magnetically open areas of the sun's magnetic field structure that spew streams of high speed solar wind into space. In about a week or so that coronal hole might send streams of particles in the direction of Earth. Often times these streams can interact with Earth's magnetosphere and generate aurora. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Movies are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21208
An eruption from the surface of the sun is conspicuous in the lower left portion of this July 6, 2015, image from NASA's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). It originates from a location on the surface where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover had been tracking a sunspot in late June and early July. This image was taken by the Atmosphere Imaging Assembly on SDO using the instrument's 131-Angstrom wavelength channel, which is sensitive to hot solar flares. The sun completes a rotation about once a month -- faster near its equator than near its poles. This summer, Mars has a view of the opposite side of the sun from what's facing Earth. Images from Curiosity tracking a southern-hemisphere sunspot until it rotated out of view during the July 4 weekend are in an animation at PIA19801. This location on the sun rotated into position to be seen from Earth a few days later. The eruption visible in this image was linked to a coronal mass ejection observed by SDO and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The coronal mass ejection affected interplanetary space weather, as shown at http://go.nasa.gov/1JSXLF3. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19680
Date: 8 Nov 2013 - Comet ISON shines in this five-minute exposure taken at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on Nov. 8, 2013.. The image was captured using a color CCD camera attached to a 14" telescope located at Marshall. At the time of this picture, comet ISON was 97 million miles from Earth, moving ever closer toward the sun. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Aaron Kingery -------- More details on Comet ISON: Comet ISON began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system and is now travelling toward the sun. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- 28 Nov 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet. Catalogued as C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012. This is ISON's very first trip around the sun, which means it is still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation, its top layers never having been lost by a trip near the sun. Comet ISON is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. NASA has been using a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescope, in order to learn more about this time capsule from when the solar system first formed. The journey along the way for such a sun-grazing comet can be dangerous. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether. This collection of images show ISON throughout that journey, as scientists watched to see whether the comet would break up or remain intact. The comet reaches its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- Nov. 28, 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun’s surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
This composite image presents the three most visible elements of space weather: a storm from the Sun, aurora as seen from space, and aurora as seen from the Earth. The solar storm is a corona mass ejection (CME) composite from EIT 304Å superimposed on a LASCO C2 image, both from SOHO. The middle image from Polar’s VIS imager shows charged particles as they spread down across the U.S. during a large solar storm event on July 14, 2000. Lastly, Jan Curtis took this image of an aurora display in Alaska, the visible evidence of space weather that we see here on Earth. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
A prominence at the edge of the sun provided us with a splendid view of solar plasma as it churned and streamed over less than one day (June 25-26, 2017). The charged particles of plasma were being manipulated by strong magnetic forces. When viewed in this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, we can trace the movements of the particles. Such occurrences are fairly common but much easier to see when they are near the sun's edge. For a sense of scale, the arch of prominence in the still image has risen up several times the size of Earth. Movies are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21768
STS095-E-5077 (1 Nov. 1998) --- Backdropped against the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, Spartan 201-05 leaves the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The satellite will remain a free-flyer for several days while it records data on the solar wind and the sun's corona. This data is hoped to increase knowledge of the sun's effect on our planet. Cargo bay of Discovery is partially visible at left. The Canadian-built remote manipulator system (RMS)is partially visible at right. The photograph was taken with an electronic still camera (ESC) at 2:09:35 GMT, November 1.
A prominence at the edge of the sun provided us with a splendid view of solar plasma as it churned and streamed over less than one day (June 25-26, 2017). The charged particles of plasma were being manipulated by strong magnetic forces. When viewed in this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, we can trace the movements of the particles. Such occurrences are fairly common but much easier to see when they are near the sun's edge. For a sense of scale, the arch of prominence in the still image has risen up several times the size of Earth. Movies are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21783
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) zoomed in to watch close-up the dynamics of this single active region on the sun over a two-day period (July 14-16, 2018). The loops SDO observed in extreme ultraviolet light are illuminated by charged particles spinning along the magnetic field lines above an active region. Active regions are magnetically intense areas that are pushed up to the surface of the sun from below. These regions are often the sources of large eruptions that cause solar storms, though no large eruptions seem to have occurred during this period. To give a sense of scale, these loops are rising up many times the diameter of Earth. Movies are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22645
A large coronal hole stands out as the most obvious feature on the sun this week (Oct. 12-13, 2017). The dark structure, shaped kind of like the Pi symbol, spreads across much of the top of the sun. Though one cannot tell from this image and video clip in false-color extreme ultraviolet light, it is spewing high-speed solar wind particles into space and has been doing this all week. It is likely that these charged particles have been interacting with Earth's atmosphere and generating many aurora displays in regions near the poles the past several days. Animations are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22047
This graphic depicts the environmental conditions at Jezero Crater from the day NASA's Perseverance Mars rover landed there – on Feb. 18, 2021, the first Martian day, or sol, of the mission – through Sol 600. The black line indicates a climatological model of atmospheric opaqueness (a measurement known as "tau") over a Martian year. The expected daily insolation, or the amount of Sun's rays reaching the solar panel, is illustrated by the green dotted line. While a year on Earth lasts 365 days, on Mars a year lasts 668 sols. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25322
NASA image captured April 3, 2011 Twice a year, SDO enters an eclipse season where the spacecraft slips behind Earth for up to 72 minutes a day. Unlike the crisp shadow one sees on the sun during a lunar eclipse, Earth's shadow has a variegated edge due to its atmosphere, which blocks the sun light to different degrees depending on its density. Also, light from brighter spots on the sun may make it through, which is why some solar features extend low into Earth's shadow. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
NASA image captured April 1, 2011 Twice a year, SDO enters an eclipse season where the spacecraft slips behind Earth for up to 72 minutes a day. Unlike the crisp shadow one sees on the sun during a lunar eclipse, Earth's shadow has a variegated edge due to its atmosphere, which blocks the sun light to different degrees depending on its density. Also, light from brighter spots on the sun may make it through, which is why some solar features extend low into Earth's shadow. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
NASA image captured April 2, 2011 Twice a year, SDO enters an eclipse season where the spacecraft slips behind Earth for up to 72 minutes a day. Unlike the crisp shadow one sees on the sun during a lunar eclipse, Earth's shadow has a variegated edge due to its atmosphere, which blocks the sun light to different degrees depending on its density. Also, light from brighter spots on the sun may make it through, which is why some solar features extend low into Earth's shadow. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
NASA image acquired May 1, 2010. As an active region rotated into view, it blew out three relatively small eruptions over about two days (Apr. 30 - May 2) as STEREO (Ahead) observed in extreme UV light. The first one was the largest and exhibited a pronounced twisting motion (shown in the still from May 1, 2010). The plasma, not far above the Sun's surface in these images, is ionized Helium heated to about 60,000 degrees. Note, too, the movement of plasma flowing along magnetic field lines that extend out beyond and loop back into the Sun's surface. Such activity occurs every day and is part of the dynamism of the changing Sun. Credit: NASA/GSFC/STEREO To learn more about STEREO go to: <a href="http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">soho.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
ISS035-S-001 (April 2011) --- Emblazoned with a bold 35 for the 35th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), this patch portrays a natural moonlit view of the Earth from the ISS at the moment of sunrise, one of the sixteen that occur each day at orbital velocity, with glowing bands of Earth's atmosphere dispersing the sun's bright light into primary colors. The Earth is depicted as it often appears from space, without recognizable coastlines or boundaries - just as the international endeavor of living and working together in space blurs technical and cultural boundaries between nations. The ISS is the unseen central figure of the image, since the view is from a window of the Space Station itself, commemorating full use of the Space Station as a long-duration dwelling from which humans can develop techniques and technologies to further explore. The crew points out, ?The arc of the Earth?s horizon with the sun?s arrows of light imply a bow shooting the imagination to Mars and the cosmos where our species may one day thrive.? The NASA insignia design for shuttle and space station flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, it will be publicly announced.
Images acquired December 21, 2010 - September 20, 2011. To view a HD animation of this go to: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6175313242/in/photostream/">www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6175313242/in/photostream/</a> To download the high res and learn more go to: <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248" rel="nofollow">earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248</a> One of the most frequently misunderstood concepts in science is the reason for Earth’s seasons. As we experience the September equinox today—anyone try to balance an egg yet?—we thought we’d offer a space-based view of what’s going on. Around 6 a.m. local time each day, the Sun, Earth, and any geosynchronous satellite form a right angle, affording a nadir (straight down) view of the terminator, where the shadows of nightfall meet the sunlight of dusk and dawn. The shape of this line between night and day varies with the seasons, which means different lengths of days and differing amounts of warming sunshine. (The line is actually a curve because the Earth is round, but satellite images only show it in two-dimensions.) The Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on EUMETSAT's Meteosat-9 captured these four views of the day-night terminator on December 21, 2010, and March 20, June 21, and September 20, 2011. Each image was taken at 6:12 a.m. local time. On March 20 and September 20, the terminator is a straight north-south line, and the Sun is said to sit directly above the equator. On December 21, the Sun resides directly over the Tropic of Capricorn when viewed from the ground, and sunlight spreads over more of the Southern Hemisphere. On June 21, the Sun sits above the Tropic of Cancer, spreading more sunlight in the north and turning the tables on the south. The bulge of our spherical Earth blocks sunlight from the far hemisphere at the solstices; that same curvature allows the Sun’s rays to spread over more area near the top and bottom of the globe. Of course, it is not the Sun that is moving north or south through the seasons, but a change in the orientation and angles between the Earth and its nearest star. The axis of the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane. The axis is tilted away from the Sun at the December solstice and toward the Sun at the June solstice, spreading more and less light on each hemisphere. At the equinoxes, the tilt is at a right angle to the Sun and the light is spread evenly. The equinox and changing of the seasons occurs on September 23, 2011 at 9:05 a.m. Universal Time. (Our September image above is a few days early.) Equinox means "equal night" in Latin, capturing the idea that daytime and nighttime are equal lengths everywhere on the planet. That is true of the Sun's presence above the horizon, though it does not account for twilight, when the Sun's rays extend from beyond the horizon to illuminate our gas-filled atmosphere. NASA images and animation by Robert Simmon, using data ©2010 EUMETSAT. Caption by Mike Carlowicz. Instrument: Meteosat Credit: <b><a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
A bright solar flare is captured by the EIT 195Å instrument on 1998 May 2. A solar flare (a sudden, rapid, and intense variation in brightness) occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released, launching material outward at millions of km per hour. The Sun’s magnetic fields tend to restrain each other and force the buildup of tremendous energy, like twisting rubber bands, so much that they eventually break. At some point, the magnetic lines of force merge and cancel in a process known as magnetic reconnection, causing plasma to forcefully escape from the Sun. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
The L-1011 aircraft carrying a Pegasus XL rocket with NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) attached takes off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The L-1011 will release the rocket over the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000 feet. After separation from the rocket, initial contact with the satellite will be made and the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - After takeoff off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the Pegasus XL rocket, with NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), can be seen attached underneath and between the wheels of the L-1011 aircraft. The L-1011 will release the rocket over the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000 feet. After separation from the rocket, initial contact with the satellite will be made and the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado.
The L-1011 aircraft carrying a Pegasus XL rocket with NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) attached takes off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The L-1011 will release the rocket over the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000 feet. After separation from the rocket, initial contact with the satellite will be made and the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- -- The L-1011 aircraft carrying a Pegasus XL rocket with NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is seen after takeoff off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The L-1011 will release the rocket over the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000 feet. After separation from the rocket, initial contact with the satellite will be made and the mission team will insure that the spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will then be turned on and their health verified. Approximately 21 days after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado.
One of two rideshare spacecraft on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission, NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory sits on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay inside Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a NASA-hosted media day on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. The missions, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory, will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. Carruthers will use its ultraviolet cameras to monitor how space weather from the Sun impacts the exosphere, the outermost part of Earth’s atmosphere.
One of two rideshare spacecraft on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory sits on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay inside Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a NASA-hosted media day on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. The missions, along with NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth, where SWFO-L1 will monitor the Sun and near-Earth environment using a suite of instruments that provide real-time measurements of solar activity.
One of two rideshare spacecraft on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory sits on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay inside Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a NASA-hosted media day on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. The missions, along with NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth, where SWFO-L1 will monitor the Sun and near-Earth environment using a suite of instruments that provide real-time measurements of solar activity.
One of two rideshare spacecraft on NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) mission, NASA’s exosphere-studying Carruthers Geocorona Observatory sits on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay inside Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a NASA-hosted media day on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. The missions, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) observatory, will orbit the Sun near Lagrange point 1, about one million miles from Earth. Carruthers will use its ultraviolet cameras to monitor how space weather from the Sun impacts the exosphere, the outermost part of Earth’s atmosphere.
In this modeled image of ISON, the coma has been subtracted, leaving behind the nucleus. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and Jian-Yang Li (Planetary Science Institute) -------- More details on Comet ISON: Comet ISON began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system and is now travelling toward the sun. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- 28 Nov 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet. Catalogued as C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012. This is ISON's very first trip around the sun, which means it is still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation, its top layers never having been lost by a trip near the sun. Comet ISON is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. NASA has been using a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescope, in order to learn more about this time capsule from when the solar system first formed. The journey along the way for such a sun-grazing comet can be dangerous. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether. This collection of images show ISON throughout that journey, as scientists watched to see whether the comet would break up or remain intact. The comet reaches its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- Nov. 28, 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun’s surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Taken on 19 Nov. 2013, this image shows a composite "stacked" image of comet ISON. These five stacked images of 10 seconds each were taken with the 20" Marshall Space Flight Center telescope in New Mexico. This technique allows the comet's sweeping tail to emerge with more detail. Credit: NASA/MSFC/MEO/Cameron McCarty -------- More details on Comet ISON: Comet ISON began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system and is now travelling toward the sun. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- 28 Nov 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet. Catalogued as C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012. This is ISON's very first trip around the sun, which means it is still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation, its top layers never having been lost by a trip near the sun. Comet ISON is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. NASA has been using a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescope, in order to learn more about this time capsule from when the solar system first formed. The journey along the way for such a sun-grazing comet can be dangerous. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether. This collection of images show ISON throughout that journey, as scientists watched to see whether the comet would break up or remain intact. The comet reaches its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- Nov. 28, 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun’s surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/39501</b>
iss072e516844 (Jan. 18, 2025) --- The non-periodic Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), or the "Great Comet of 2025," is pictured seemingly above Earth's atmosphere though it was actually about 87 million miles away and five days past its closest approach, or perihelion, to the Sun. The International Space Station was orbiting 261 miles above Kazakhstan at the time of this photograph. Credit: NASA/Don Pettit
Solar activity and erupting prominences. EIT 304A (Jan. 8-10, 2000) Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
A new active region appeared on June 19th, quickly growing in size over two days (June 20-22, 2018). Active regions are areas of enhanced magnetic activity on the Sun's surface, generating the huge loops and dynamic surges observed here. Charged particles spinning along the field lines above the active region are illuminated in this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. The superimposed Earth icon gives a sense of just how large these loops are. Movies are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22582
Animation of solar wind impacting the magnetosphere and creating aurora. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SOHO/ESA Sound: Juan Carlos Garcia To learn more go to the SOHO website: <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html" rel="nofollow">sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/home.html</a> To learn more about NASA's Sun Earth Day go here: <a href="http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php" rel="nofollow">sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/index.php</a>
STEREO witnessed the March 5, 2013, CME from the side of the sun – Earth is far to the left of this picture. While the SOHO images show a halo CME, STEREO shows the CME clearly moving away from Earth. Credit: NASA/STEREO --- CME WEEK: What To See in CME Images Two main types of explosions occur on the sun: solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Unlike the energy and x-rays produced in a solar flare – which can reach Earth at the speed of light in eight minutes – coronal mass ejections are giant, expanding clouds of solar material that take one to three days to reach Earth. Once at Earth, these ejections, also called CMEs, can impact satellites in space or interfere with radio communications. During CME WEEK from Sept. 22 to 26, 2014, we explore different aspects of these giant eruptions that surge out from the star we live with. When a coronal mass ejection blasts off the sun, scientists rely on instruments called coronagraphs to track their progress. Coronagraphs block out the bright light of the sun, so that the much fainter material in the solar atmosphere -- including CMEs -- can be seen in the surrounding space. CMEs appear in these images as expanding shells of material from the sun's atmosphere -- sometimes a core of colder, solar material (called a filament) from near the sun's surface moves in the center. But mapping out such three-dimensional components from a two-dimensional image isn't easy. Watch the slideshow to find out how scientists interpret what they see in CME pictures. The images in the slideshow are from the three sets of coronagraphs NASA currently has in space. One is on the joint European Space Agency and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO. SOHO launched in 1995, and sits between Earth and the sun about a million miles away from Earth. The other two coronagraphs are on the two spacecraft of the NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, mission, which launched in 2006. The two STEREO spacecraft are both currently viewing the far side of the sun. Together these instruments help scientists create a three-dimensional model of any CME as its journey unfolds through interplanetary space. Such information can show why a given characteristic of a CME close to the sun might lead to a given effect near Earth, or any other planet in the solar system. <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The day before launch, KSC videographer Glen Benson captures the setting sun behind Space Shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39A. This is a popular view of the Shuttle. Endeavour waits for mission STS-99, known as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which will chart a new course to produce unrivaled 3-D images of the Earth's surface. The result of the SRTM could be close to 1 trillion measurements of the Earth's topography. The mission is expected to last 11days, with Endeavour landing at KSC Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 4:36 p.m. EST. This is the 97th Shuttle flight and 14th for Shuttle Endeavour
S73-36905 (8 Nov. 1973) --- Astronaut William R. Pogue, pilot of the Skylab 4 mission, relaxes during spacesuit pressure and fit checks at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This shoulder and head shot of Pogue was taken a few days before the scheduled Skylab 4 launch. This third and last visit to the Skylab space station in Earth orbit will return additional information on the Earth and sun, as well as provide favorable location from which to observe the recently discovered Comet Kohoutek. The other two members of the Skylab 4 crew will be astronaut Gerald P. Carr, commander; and scientist-astronaut Edward G. Gibson, science pilot. Photo credit: NASA
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The day before launch, KSC videographer Glen Benson captures the setting sun behind Space Shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39A. This is a popular view of the Shuttle. Endeavour waits for mission STS-99, known as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which will chart a new course to produce unrivaled 3-D images of the Earth's surface. The result of the SRTM could be close to 1 trillion measurements of the Earth's topography. The mission is expected to last 11days, with Endeavour landing at KSC Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 4:36 p.m. EST. This is the 97th Shuttle flight and 14th for Shuttle Endeavour
S72-52630 (February 1972) --- This is the emblem for the first manned Skylab mission. It will be a mission of up to 28 days. Skylab is an experimental space station consisting of a 100-ton laboratory complex in which medical, scientific and technological experiments will be performed in Earth orbit. The prime crew of this mission will be astronaut Charles Conrad Jr., commander; scientist-astronaut Joseph P. Kerwin, science pilot; and astronaut Paul J. Weits, pilot. The patch, designed by artist Kelly Freas, shows the Skylab silhouetted against the Earth's globe, which in turn is eclipsing the sun--showing the brilliant signet-ring pattern of the instant before the total eclipse. Photo credit: NASA
S73-36908 (8 Nov. 1973) --- Astronaut Gerald P. Carr, commander of the Skylab 4 mission, undergoes spacesuit pressure and fit checks at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This shoulder and head shot of Carr was taken a few days before the scheduled Skylab 4 launch. This third and last visit to the Skylab space station in Earth orbit will return additional information on the Earth and sun, as well as provide a favorable location from which to observe the recently discovered Comet Kohoutek. The other two members of the Skylab 4 crew will be astronaut William R. Pogue, pilot; and scientist-astronaut Edward G. Gibson, science pilot. Photo credit: NASA
Caption: This image from June 20, 2013, at 11:15 p.m. EDT shows the bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the sun and an eruption of solar material shooting through the sun’s atmosphere, called a prominence eruption. Shortly thereafter, this same region of the sun sent a coronal mass ejection out into space. --- On June 20, 2013, at 11:24 p.m., the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and ESA/NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 1350 miles per second, which is a fast speed for CMEs. Earth-directed CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. The CME’s magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth's fields changing their very shape. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals and cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids. They also can cause aurora. Storms are rare during solar minimum, but as the sun’s activity ramps up every 11 years toward solar maximum – currently expected in late 2013 -- large storms occur several times per year. In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this strength and direction have usually been mild. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/14OxuEe" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/14OxuEe</a> Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Caption: This image from June 20, 2013, at 11:15 p.m. EDT shows the bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the sun and an eruption of solar material shooting through the sun’s atmosphere, called a prominence eruption. Shortly thereafter, this same region of the sun sent a coronal mass ejection out into space. --- On June 20, 2013, at 11:24 p.m., the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later. These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and ESA/NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 1350 miles per second, which is a fast speed for CMEs. Earth-directed CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when they funnel energy into Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. The CME’s magnetic fields peel back the outermost layers of Earth's fields changing their very shape. Magnetic storms can degrade communication signals and cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids. They also can cause aurora. Storms are rare during solar minimum, but as the sun’s activity ramps up every 11 years toward solar maximum – currently expected in late 2013 -- large storms occur several times per year. In the past, geomagnetic storms caused by CMEs of this strength and direction have usually been mild. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>