The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager is capturing the first global images of the plasmasphere, which is the tenuous extension of the Earth's electrically charged upper atmosphere, or ionosphere. Images from this region will provide a sensitive indicator of the onset of magnetic storm activity. The Radio Plasma Imager instrument provides a three-dimensional view of the plasmasphere by sounding it with radio pulses, like an ultrasound image of the human body. To accomplish this, it uses the longest antennas ever deployed in space, longer than the height of the Empire State Building. Released Images Energetic Neutral Atom Image Energetic Neutral Atom image of a storm cloud of energetic particles from the High Energy Neutral Atom Imager instrument.
Red colors indicate the highest intensity of incoming particles, blue represents the lowest.
We are looking from the sun towards the Earth, viewing the cloud beyond the Earth on the night side. This is a selected frame from a sequence which is available as a quicktime movie . Plasmasphere Depth sounding of the tenuous extension of the Earth's upper ionosphere about 20,000 kilometers into space around the Earth, called the plamasphere, using the Radio Plasma Imager instrument. The green traces correspond to echoes from the plasmasphere at varying depths. Ionized Helium Atmosphere Ultraviolet image of sunlight scattered from the Earth's extended atmosphere of helium using the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager instrument.