A new and unique solar observatory is poised to leave Earth today (27 June 2013). IRIS (the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) will blast off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base onboard a Pegasus XL rocket at 7:27 p.m. PDT. A modified L-1011 airliner will carry the rocket to 39,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean where the plane will drop the Pegasus to begin the launch.
Engineers mount the Pegasus to the belly of the Orbital Sciences L-1011.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is known as the finest solar telescope ever launched into space. IRIS is equally capable, but in its own way. "IRIS almost acts as a microscope to SDO's telescope," explains mission manager Jim Hall. While SDO sees the entire sun, IRIS going to look closely at about 1 percent of the sun's surface, discerning features as small as 150 miles across.
IRIS will pay special attention to a thin layer of the sun's atmosphere called the "interface region" where most of the sun’s ultraviolet emission is generated. Researchers are keen to study this layer because it is probably the energy source for the sun's mysteriously-hot outer corona.
"IRIS will show the solar chromosphere in more detail than has ever been observed before," says Adrian Daw, deputy project scientist. "My opinion is that we are bound to see something we didn't expect to see." Stay tuned! www.spaceweather.com
IRIS will pay special attention to a thin layer of the sun's atmosphere called the "interface region" where most of the sun’s ultraviolet emission is generated. Researchers are keen to study this layer because it is probably the energy source for the sun's mysteriously-hot outer corona.
"IRIS will show the solar chromosphere in more detail than has ever been observed before," says Adrian Daw, deputy project scientist. "My opinion is that we are bound to see something we didn't expect to see." Stay tuned! www.spaceweather.com
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