Kind: captions
Language: en
when you think of space exploration what
comes to mind for many of us it's images
of powerful rockets and high-tech
satellites or maybe it's the people who
operate all that expensive equipment
brilliant and dedicated astronauts
scientists and
Engineers but don't assume you need
Advanced degrees or specialized training
to experience some Keen NASA missions
firsthand in fact with nothing more than
a computer and a good internet
connection you can use the Helio viewer
a tool built by NASA's garded space
flight center The Helio viewer serves up
real solar images constantly updated
from space telescopes like stereo Soho
and the incredible new
sdo with it you can investigate a big
solar event in the past study a
particular region of the Sun or just see
what's happening on our local star today
who knows you might be the first to spot
a solar storm as it's forming whatever
your interest The Helio viewer lets you
choose when and how to observe the sun
with the same solar telescopes the
professionals use every
day of course a tool this powerful can
seem a little complicated at first so
the sunlab starts with two guided
research projects that will help you get
familiar with the Helio viewer while
learning to read what's happening on the
Sun
the first one focusing on the solar
cycle shows you how to identify sun
spots early indications that storms
might be
Brewing we've selected the dates times
and instruments for you pulling up great
examples of sunspot activity from the
recent past zooming in you'll count both
groups and individual spots then see how
your estimates compare with what the
scientists got in the second
investigation you'll learn to predict
which Sunspot regions are most likely to
generate solar storms once again we've
picked the date time and the instruments
you'll see your job is to analyze two
regions as they evolve predict which one
will erupt and then find out what really
happened in the third investigation
you're in command this is your chance to
put your curiosity and powers of
scientific observation to work come up
with a question figure out what you need
to see and go get it first pick the date
and time range of the event you're
interested in next choose your
instrument here's an example of using
sto's AIA telescope to see what's
happening in the super hot Corona or
atmosphere of the
Sun finally select a wavelength of light
to observe this will determine which
layer of the sun you see because hotter
regions emit light with more energy than
cooler
ones to document what you've done you
can capture pictures make movies and
share them with fellow researchers in
our social
feed so give the sunlab a try right now
there are billions of dollars worth of
solar telescopes hard at work Gathering
images that you can use for your own
personal solar exploration
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