SOLAR WEEK! WOO!

I want to apologize. I know when these blogs are due and i for some reason forgot we had one this week. It's a bummer because I had a lot of fun doing it, wish I would've done it sooner! Better late than never,  but I know this will never happen again!

1:  Monday -What Do the Colors in the Composite image of the Sun mean?

A: Orange and Blue represent Opposite Polarity  of a magnetic field and the puce green hue represents the UV light coming off the Arcs moving from one end of the magnetic field to the other.

2: Tuesday-What Does TRACE Stand for? How many pixels are in a TRACE image?

A: The Acronym TRACE ( TRACE CHRISM HiRISE….. I see an naming pattern….) stands for Transition Region And Coronal Explorer, which contains mirrors coated with special materials which block certain wavelengths from being seen by the instrument while letting in others, a revolutionary thing in 1998. Each TRACE Image contains 1.05 million pixels representing an area on the sun of 360,000km x360,000km.

3: Wednesday- What are CME’s? ( Again with the Acronym names, well I guess for them) and how  do they become cannibals?

A: A CME is a Coronal Mass Ejection, where electrified magnetic gas is spewed from a solar eruption into space. What makes a CME “cannibalistic” is that lager, faster CMEs can “devour” their smaller slower counterparts, which cause longer nastier sun storms for  us if they are directed towards Earth. Normal sun storms distort the magnetic field of earth, sending today’s technology ‘s into enough of a tailspin, but cannibalistic CMEs have longer more severe storms that are more harmful to the magnetic field.
4: Thursday- How is the nighttime aurora created?

A: The nighttime aurora begins  at the sun. Within the sun’s convection cells, gross amounts of energy (plasma) from the Hydrogen being fused into Helium in  the Core,  create strong magnetic fields. Powerful fields push up through the layers of the sun and become sunspots, the magnetic field arching out of the sun. I (f the field is powerful enough it will bend and stretch, like a rubber band until it breaks and will release a huge gassy cloud of plasma called a solar storm. After about 18 hours the Solar storm will hit Earth. Earth has it’s own magnetic field that will deflect the storm. The culmination of two forces funnels the plasma towards the poles of earth, creating the nighttime aurora ( and also the daytime aurora too). ( That is such a cool thing! )

5: Friday- What’s the Job Title ( from the NASA job search). What’s the expected salary? Where is it located?

A: Well I found a Geologist Job…… In Mobile, Alabama? The job title isn’t directly linked to NASA but  the job’s recipient will “Assist NASA” in 4-5 sates as well as central and south America, the scope of this job is quite broad. The expected salary is $68,350-$89,450.

6: What was the best part of the Scavenger hunt?

A: I really liked  learning about the  Nighttime Aurora. I've seen pictures of them before and I've always been so mystified by their curly wisps across the inky black sky. Learning why they happen does take away a bit of that mystical aspect it once held for me ( Like when you realize mom is the tooth fairy) but it also excites me. I want to see the Aurora in person,  to see the plasma bend into pretty hues. I have a newfound  reverence for the Aurora, one rooted more in science than in mystery.