Sun  ID: 12823

Where Earth Meets Space

Story by Kathalina Tran | Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on February 5, 2018
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NASA’s newest mission, GOLD, will explore the ever-changing boundary between Earth and space.
No hard and fast line divides Earth's upper atmosphere from outer space. Instead, the little understood region where one fades into the other responds both to terrestrial weather in the lower atmosphere below and the tumult of space weather from above. This dynamic region has historically been difficult to observe; 60-400 miles above the surface, it’s too low to easily study with satellites and too high for aircraft and scientific balloons. On Jan. 25, 2018, NASA set out to change that with the launch of the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, instrument, hosted aboard a commercial communications satellite. From geostationary orbit, GOLD observes Earth's interface to space. Space is not completely empty: It’s teeming with fast-moving charged particles and electric and magnetic fields that guide their motion. At the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space, these particles and fields - the ionosphere - co-exist with the upper reaches of the neutral atmosphere, called the thermosphere. The two commingle and influence one another constantly. GOLD inspects this interplay and the forces responsible for the day-to-day changes in this critical boundary layer. Watch the videos to learn more.
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GOLD explores the dynamic region where Earth’s uppermost atmosphere meets space.
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At geostationary orbit 22,000 miles over the Western Hemisphere, GOLD has a full-disk view of the upper atmosphere.
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The ionosphere is a region of charged particles in near-Earth space that coexists with the neutral atmosphere, called the thermosphere.
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Bright swaths of light in the atmosphere, called airglow, are seen in this photo of Earth’s limb shot from the International Space Station.
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GOLD teams up with NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer - ICON - to provide the most comprehensive ionosphere observations we’ve ever had.
 

Source Material

Why NASA Is Exploring The Edge Of Our Planet
GOLD in Geostationary Orbit
ICON and GOLD: Instrument Scanning Coverage

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Lead Producer:
Joy Ng (USRA)

Lead Scientist:
Sarah L. Jones (NASA/GSFC)

Lead Writer:
Kathalina Tran (SGT)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12823

Missions:
Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON)
Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Sun
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0