X-ray Images of the North Polar Region from the Chandra HRC-I Instrument

  • Released Friday, September 30, 2005
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Here are X-rays images (shown on the same brightness scale) of the north polar region obtained by Chandra HRC-I on different days, showing large variability in soft (0.1-10.0 keV) X-ray emissions from Earth s aurora. Note that the images are not snap shots, but are ~20-min scans of the northern auroral region in the HRC-I field-of-view. The brightness scale in Rayleighs (R) assumes an average effective area of 40 cm2. The day-night terminator at an altitude of 0 km is displayed with lighting. The day-night terminator at an altitude of 100 km is shown by the blue line.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC. The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC. The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC. The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC. The blue line near the surface day/night terminator is where the terminator is 100 km from the surface.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

X-Ray emissions colortable

X-Ray emissions colortable

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was scanned on January 24, 2004 from 20:01:25 UTC till January 24, 2004 20:22:19 UTC.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This data was observed on January 30, 2004 from 03:06:20 till 03:26:50.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC. The terminator at 100 km has been removed.

This observation was taken from Feb 14, 2004 at 23:58 to Feb 15, 2004 at 00:18 UTC. The terminator at 100 km has been removed.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

April 13, 2004 - This data was observed from 3:46 UTC to 4:07 UTC.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Friday, September 30, 2005.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.

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Datasets used

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.