THEMIS MISSION TO PROVIDE NEW UNDERSTANDING OF SUBSTORM LIFE CYCLE

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/main/index.html
The Mission
THEMIS is a mission to investigate what causes auroras in the Earth's
atmosphere to dramatically change from slowly shimmering waves of light to
wildly shifting streaks of color. Discovering what causes auroras to change
will provide scientists with important details on how the planet's
magnetosphere works and the important Sun-Earth connection.
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I missed a news briefing today.  There are links to images and more data on
the Prelaunch Briefing Page.
- LRK -

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NASA will host a media teleconference to discuss the Time History of Events
and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission on Wednesday,
Jan. 17, at 1 p.m. EST. Visit the event's briefing page for more
information.
+ View Prelaunch Briefing Page
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/news/prelaunch_briefing.html
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Will be interesting to see how five probes do flying in orbit.  Wonder if
they could fly five probes around the Moon at the same time?  Might happen
if everyone decides to go at the same time.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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Space Weather News for Jan. 17, 2007
http://spaceweather.com

COMET UPDATE: Comet McNaught is emerging from the glare of the sun and, as
expected, solar heating has turned it into a spectacular naked-eye comet.
McNaught is visible from all parts of the Southern Hemisphere, sporting a
curved tail and a head almost as bright as the planet Venus.  Northerners
can watch the comet's progress by browsing daily photo galleries at
http://SpaceWeather.com .  Southerners should go outside tonight at sunset,
look west and see for themselves.

VENUS AND THE MOON:  Mark your calendar. On Saturday evening, January 20th,
the slender crescent Moon will glide by Venus forming a beautiful ensemble
in the western sky at sunset. This is something people in both hemispheres
can enjoy. Hint:  Look for the pair before the sky fades to black. Venus and
the Moon surrounded by twilight-blue is a scene of special beauty.

Visit http://spaceweather.com  for observing tips and updates.

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/news/Themis_intro.html
THEMIS Will Judge What Causes Highly Dynamic Aurora

 01.09.07

On a clear night over the far northern areas of the world, you may witness a
hauntingly beautiful light display in the sky that can disrupt your
satellite TV and leave you in the dark.

The eerie glow of the northern lights seems exquisite and quite harmless.
Most times, it is harmless. The display, resembling a slow-moving ribbon
silently undulating in the sky, is called the aurora. It is also visible in
far southern regions around the South Pole.

Occasionally, however, the aurora becomes much more dynamic. The single
auroral ribbon may split into several ribbons or even break into clusters
that race north and south. This dynamic light show in the polar skies is
associated with what scientists call a magnetospheric substorm. Substorms
are very closely related to full-blown space storms that can disable
spacecraft, radio communication, GPS navigation, and power systems while
supplying killer electrons to the radiation belts surrounding Earth. The
purpose of NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during
Substorms (THEMIS) mission is to understand the physical instability
(trigger mechanism) for magnetospheric substorms.

A clash of forces we can't see with the human eye causes the beauty and
destruction of space storms, though the aurora provides a dramatic symptom.
Earth's molten iron core generates an invisible magnetic field that
surrounds our planet. This magnetic field and the electrically charged
matter under its control compose the Earth's magnetosphere.

Snip
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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/jan/HQ_07011_THEMIS.html 
Jan. 17, 2007

Dwayne Brown/Tabatha Thompson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726/3895

Cynthia O'Carroll
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4647

RELEASE: 07-011

THEMIS MISSION TO PROVIDE NEW UNDERSTANDING OF SUBSTORM LIFE CYCLE

WASHINGTON - NASA's THEMIS, the Time History of Events and Macroscale
Interactions during Substorms mission, is set to venture into space and help
resolve the mystery of what triggers geomagnetic substorms.
For the first time, scientists will get a comprehensive view of the substorm
phenomena from Earth's upper atmosphere to far into space, pinpointing where
and when each substorm begins.

Substorms are atmospheric events visible in the northern hemisphere as a
sudden brightening of the Northern Lights. THEMIS also will provide clues
about the role of substorms in severe space weather and identify where and
when substorms begin.

THEMIS' five identical probes will be the largest number of scientific
satellites NASA has ever launched into orbit aboard a single rocket.
This unique constellation of satellites will line up along the sun-Earth
line, collect coordinated measurements every four days, and be ready to
observe more than 30 substorms during the two-year mission. Data collected
from the five probes will pinpoint where and when substorms begin, a feat
impossible with any previous single-satellite mission.

"For more than 30 years the source location of these explosive energy
releases has been sought after with great fervor. It is a question almost as
old as space physics itself," said Vassilis Angelopoulos, THEMIS' principal
investigator at the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences
Laboratory. "A substorm starts from a single point in space and progresses
past the moon's orbit within minutes, so a single satellite cannot identify
the substorm origin.  The five-satellite constellation of THEMIS will
finally identify the trigger location and the physics involved in
substorms."

Snip

For more information about the THEMIS mission and imagery, visit:

www.nasa.gov/themis
 
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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