User-Friendly Solar Satellite Views
June 17, 2004 | Levent OZLER
Your mother always told you to never look directly at the Sun. While that's great advice outside, NASA now gives you a way to stare at the Sun indoors. Thanks to some high-tech aides, you can now see the up-close and dazzling details of the big ball of fire for yourself.
An interactive Sun-Earth Media Viewer provides nine satellite views of the Sun and three views of the Earth, updating itself every two hours. These real images are the same ones that scientists use to track stormy space weather events that affect everything from power grids and satellites to astronauts in space. Using the Flash interface, you can zoom into the incredible details of solar storms, and see the true impact of the Sun on the Earth's atmosphere. To keep things in perspective, keep an eye on the size of the planet Earth in the info bar to the right of your screen. You can also get in-depth information about flares and auroras with a special section devoted to animating these sometimes difficult-to-grasp concepts.
The Sun-Earth Connection Media Viewer is available through many of the NASA websites and updated every two hours with real satellite data.
more: sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/media_viewer/fl (210)
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