How Airglow Can Help Us Understand The Sun’s Influence On Earth

How Airglow Can Help Us Understand the Sun’s Influence on Earth

You may have seen the famous blue marble or pale blue dot images showing Earth from 18,000 and 3.7 billion miles away, respectively. But closer to home — some 300 miles above Earth’s surface — you might encounter an unfamiliar sight: vibrant swaths of red and green or purple and yellow light emanating from the upper atmosphere.

This light is airglow.

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Airglow is created when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed excess energy. Or, it can happen when atoms and molecules that have been ionized by sunlight collide with and capture a free electron. In both cases, these atmospheric particles emit light in order to relax again. The process is similar to how auroras are created, but while auroras are driven by high-energy solar wind, airglow is energized by day-to-day solar radiation.

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Since sunlight is constant, airglow constantly shines throughout Earth’s atmosphere, and the result is a tenuous bubble of light that closely encases our planet. Its light is too dim to see easily except in orbit or on the ground with clear, dark skies and a sensitive camera — it’s one-tenth as bright as the light given off by all the stars in the night sky.  

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Airglow highlights a key part of our atmosphere: the ionosphere. Stretching from roughly 50 to 400 miles above Earth’s surface, the ionosphere is an electrified layer of the upper atmosphere generated by extreme ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. It reacts to both terrestrial weather below and solar energy streaming in from above, forming a complex space weather system. Turbulence in this ever-changing sea of charged particles can manifest as disruptions that interfere with Earth-orbiting satellites or communication and navigation signals.

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Understanding the ionosphere’s extreme variability is tricky because it requires untangling interactions between the different factors at play — interactions of which we don’t have a clear picture. That’s where airglow comes in. Each atmospheric gas has its own favored airglow color, hangs out at a different height and creates airglow by a different process, so we can use airglow to study different layers of the atmosphere.

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Airglow carries information on the upper atmosphere’s temperature, density, and composition, but it also helps us trace how particles move through the region itself. Vast, high-altitude winds sweep through the ionosphere, pushing its contents around the globe — and airglow’s subtle dance follows their lead, highlighting global patterns.

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Two NASA missions take advantage of precisely this effect to study the upper atmosphere: ICON — short for Ionospheric Connection Explorer — and GOLD — Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk.

ICON focuses on how charged and neutral gases in the upper atmosphere behave and interact, while GOLD observes what drives change — the Sun, Earth’s magnetic field or the lower atmosphere — in the region.

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By imaging airglow, the two missions will enable scientists to tease out how space and Earth’s weather intersect, dictating the region’s complex behavior.

Keep up with the latest in NASA’s airglow and upper atmosphere research on Twitter and Facebook or at nasa.gov/sunearth.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

More Posts from Orange-bottle and Others

5 years ago
A Valdangelo Hanahaki Au ^-^
A Valdangelo Hanahaki Au ^-^

A valdangelo hanahaki au ^-^

5 years ago

Beautiful

do you have any headcanons about the bnha fantasy au? :'D

Sure! I love this AU so much I have tons of ideas for it! *cracks knuckles*

Kirishima is a dragon shifter. In his dragon form, he looks like the red dragon Bakugou is seen riding in the anime ending [x]. He can breathe fire even in his human form if he’s not careful. Sometimes he likes his meat a bit more on the raw side thanks to his dual nature. 

Bakugou is a dragonologist. He and Kirishima meet when Bakugou finds him injured in his dragon form and takes care of him. He doesn’t realize that Kiri is a shifter until the redhead makes the skin of his arm shift into red scales in front of his shoked face. 

Deku is an adventurer that leaves his homeland in search of fame. He’s not very well-suited for combat since he lacks the training for it, but the boy is hella smart and probably knows the history and geography of his world by heart. Also, kudos if his nerdbook (=nerd notebook) in this universe consists of random notes of literally everything that catches his eye: plants with magic properties, plants that just look good, random vocabulary from local tribes, notes on the different cultural traditions and fashion styles of the various populations he happens to stumble upon, alchemic properties he’ll never actually experiment on, ice cream flavours you can only find in X land, etc.

Todoroki is an exiled prince. The corrupt nobles of his homeland pinned their own conspiracy to overthrow king Enji on him when the tyrant started getting suspicious of treason, and they backed it up with false evidence, mainly correspondence with King Toshinori, ruler of the neighboring kingdom. Normally, treason would be punished with a death sentence, but Shouto’s royal status granted him a trial. He ultimately got away with his life but he’s been exiled for the entire duration of it. Or - he’s not a fool and he knows the laws well - until the current King dies. Then, as the only legitimate heir, his nobles will be forced to call him back if they don’t want to have a war of succession on their hands, as king Enji is a known regular of brothels and has had many affairs that landed him with many bastard children. 

Momo was Shouto’s personal guard until he was exiled. Afterwards, she resigned from her position to become a mercenary. 

Ochako is a mage in training that joined Deku’s party at last. She’s got a good grip on all types of magic, but her stamina is not great and she frequently has to make use of magic replenishing potions after her magical exhaustion kicks in, much to Iida’s worry because it is not advisable to be so reliant on potions! Uraraka-kun, you must be aware that abusing such items is likely to cause addiction, especially if consumed with so little concern for the mage’s natural healing process! 

Iida is an ex-knight that decided to follow Deku out of loyalty when Midoriya rescued him from another attack of the same werewolf that had already bitten his brother Tensei, turning him and ending his career as a warrior. After that attack, Tenya felt that his understanding of the world and its dangers was very limited, and that he needed to travel and to experience a lot more to be able to repent for not being able to save his brother on time. 

Tsuyu is an innkeeper with a knack for water-manipulation magic and partial animal transfiguration one. She doesn’t have much use of it in her current profession, but then again, she’s only helping her parents out during the busiest season, but when she’s not at the inn she’s studying at the local Urabity Lake’s Transfiguration and Runology Academy in the plus department (see what I did there :’D), and is counting on graduating there and then offer her services to the community, especially since she doesn’t want another tragedy like the Great Flood from her childhood that destroyed half of Urabity Lake and left a lot of people homeless and devoid of any material possessions. 

Kaminari is a thief masquerading as a harmeless but sadly also tone-deaf bard in training. He tried stealing Bakugou’s gold pouch and his necklaces during one of Bakugou’s trips to town, and nearly died in the aftermath of his wrath. Turns out, Kirishima knows him and is actually good friends with him, which is the only reason why Kaminari still lives to tell the tale. 

Jirou is an actual bard. She knows how to hold a sword because she received the training for it, so she’s not afraid to travel alone, but her true skills lay in her rhymes and her music. She has songs featuring the most fearless warriors, including King Toshinori in his golden days, and songs meant to dance and sing along to after a successful adventure. 

Ojiro is a spy. He works undercover in the alchemy and potion trafficking rings and reports to Commander Aizawa, who is a policeman but also doubles as an alchemy teacher on most weekdays, hence why he’s constantly exhausted all the time. 

Tokoyami is a very powerful necromancer (sue me, but he’s definitely into Dark Magic. Have you seen the guy???), but in truth he’s never used his powers for evildoing. He’s mostly fixing up stuff other Dark Wizards before messed with and left behind. He’s also fairly good at summoning magic. He probably owns tons of cursed artefacts that he tried to render harmless, with varied results. Townspeople avoid him like the plague. Rumors have it that he has a pact with a demon, which he calls Dark Shadow. In truth, his bloodline was cursed with darkness and he’s still trying to break said curse, but somewhere along the line he found out that the Dark Bird is not so bad of a companion, especially since he’s always so lonely. 

Ashido and Sero are magical creatures experts. They’ve worked odd jobs in the past and picked up useful knowledge in how to deal with scared, injured animals. They have founded a shelter together, and they mostly tend to familiars and magical pets in general. 

5 years ago

😤 hell yeah!

Okay I need to know for science:

Reblog if y’all play sky: children of light ( I’d like to make new friends or just in general talk about the game)

5 years ago

Reblog if you’re part of the LGBTQ+ witch squad

🍄🎃🌙🌿🌊🔮

5 years ago
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
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ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan Moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ✁᪶᪼ ⸼ ͆🍱⅔᪼᪻͜⅏͢japan moodboard‼᪼⸼) . ° ⌨︎ . ·ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ べ▨ ▨ ▨!! . . . ♡

5 years ago
‘suddenly, I Feel Invincible’

‘suddenly, i feel invincible’

5 years ago
A Friend Of Mine Requested An Outfit Based On Demon Slayer’s Nezuko Kamado! Her Iconic Outfit Has Been
A Friend Of Mine Requested An Outfit Based On Demon Slayer’s Nezuko Kamado! Her Iconic Outfit Has Been

A friend of mine requested an outfit based on Demon Slayer’s Nezuko Kamado! Her iconic outfit has been replicated for all New Leaf and New Horizons players to enjoy, especially for fans of Nezuko herself!

💚💖🖤

5 years ago

“Spring, the season I met you. Another Spring without you is coming.”

Your Lie In April

5 years ago

😔👊

I NEED DAMIEN X PRINCE WILLIAM FLUFF

They are just so cute together don’t @ me on this.

Also if anyone knows any Damien x Will please @ me on this.

5 years ago
Repost This Anywhere
Repost This Anywhere
Repost This Anywhere
Repost This Anywhere
Repost This Anywhere
Repost This Anywhere
Repost This Anywhere

Repost this anywhere

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orange-bottle - 💞Fuck You💞
💞Fuck You💞

you've yee'd your last haw

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