Science AMA series: We’re scientists at NASA studying the sun, planets
and solar system; ask us anything about the spring equinox (happening
today), the sun and the total solar eclipse in August 2017!
Abstract
EDIT, NOTE FROM THE MODS: The Spring Equinox 2017 will occur in the
Northern Hemisphere at 6:28 AM EST on Monday, March 20, NOT today. The
date of the AMA was moved and the headline was not updated! Apologies to
anyone we’ve confused! – THANKS EVERYONE!! – We appreciate the great
questions, comments and support. It’s been wonderful engaging with your
enthusiastic content and we look forward to speaking with everyone again
during future Reddits or any of our multitude of other NASA social media
events. Our scheduled time for this event has ended, though some of us
may continue to answer questions throughout the day, weekend or when our
schedule allows. However, please feel free to continue to talk amongst
yourselves. One great thing about our NASA fans is the depth of your
combined knowledge and willingness to share it with the world. Thanks
everyone and good luck with your Solar Eclipse viewing. Don’t forget to
follow us on our social media channels, as we will have several
opportunities to discuss the Solar Eclipse event, as well as other
topics. :-) Sincerely, The NASA Goddard and NASA Marshall teams Hi
reddit! We are scientists at NASA are studying heliophysics and how the
sun, heliosphere and planetary environments function as a single,
connected system and how elements of the system like space weather
affect solar, planetary and interstellar conditions. Heliophysics is the
study of the sun’s influence throughout the solar system, and its
connection to the Earth and the Earth’s extended space environment.
Answering your questions today: Dr. Linda Habash Krause I am a space
plasma physics experimentalist at NASA Marshall’s Science and Technology
Office and Project Scientist of a joint US-Brazil satellite mission
entitled “Scintillation Prediction Observation Research Task” (SPORT).
This mission, due to launch into low Earth orbit in 2019, will observe
plasma turbulence in the ionosphere responsible for operational outages
in our GPS navigation systems and some of our satellite communication
systems. This is form of “space weather” that is a result of the
interactions between the sun, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and upper
neutral atmosphere, and I have been studying it for over 20 years. My
activites have included installation of an ionospheric observatory in
Nigeria, invention of space plasma instruments for satellites, and
performing both scientific and mission operations duties for sounding
rockets, the Space Shuttle, the ISS, tethered satellites, and
free-flying satellites, and data mining and analysis of large space
weather data sets. Mitzi Adams I’m a heliophysicist at NASA’s Marshall
Space Flight Center and co-author of a paper published in Nature that
deals with solar jets seen in solar coronal holes. I study various solar
phenomena, like the jets, but also prominences, sunspots and sunspot
magnetic fields, in an attempt to understand solar variability and space
weather. Understanding space weather is important for protecting our
satellite resources, mobile phone communications, and Earth’s power
systems. Nicki Viall I’m Nicki Viall, and I’m a solar physicist at NASA
Goddard. I study the solar corona, the part of the sun that we will see
during the total solar eclipse in August. I also study the solar wind –
the part of the solar corona that continuously flows off the sun. I
primarily use data taken with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and
NASA’s STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory). One of the
instruments on STEREO is called a coronagraph and works by artificially
creating an eclipse so that we can continuously observe the corona. Eric
Christian I design and build instruments to study energetic sub-atomic
particles in space, and use the data from these instrument to improve
our understanding of the Sun, the heliosphere, and the distant galaxy.
These particles give clues to the origin and evolution of our Sun and
planets, and other solar systems. They are also an important part of
Space Weather that can be dangerous to satellites and astronauts, and
even to technology down on Earth, and can affect the habitability of
planets throughout the galaxy. For more information:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/overview/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/NASASunScience https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov
We’ll be back at noon EST to answer your questions! AUA!