- Scientists from NASA have released a computer rendering of how space weather occurs that was constructed using data collected through the New Horizons mission in the Pluto system.
- Compared to weather occurrences on Earth such as torrential rains or clear skies, weather patterns in space consist of plasma released by the sun that travels to the different corners of the solar system.
- In the latest NASA video created by the American space agency's Scientific Visualization Studio, the temperature in space is represented by the color red, density is represented by the color green and shock waves passing through the plasma field are represented by the color blue.
- Areas that show more than one trait is represented in the visualization using color combinations such as those in purple, which depicts portions with low density and hot shock waves.
- Robert Steenburgh, a researcher at the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), explained that space weather is composed of a combination of plasma, energetic particles, solar wind and flares that are released by the sun.
- Steenburgh makes use of a scientific model known as Enlil to monitor the behavior of space weather in order to predict disruptive occurrences such as radio blackouts that could severely damage satellites in orbit.
- NASA and NOAA researchers use the Enlil model to determine the impact of space weather on Earth. The reach of the model, however, only extends to just past the planet Mars. Weather patterns beyond that point remain a mystery to scientists.
Keywords: mission in the Pluto
system, hot shock waves, radio blackouts.
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