Key Points: NASA’s CODEX investigation captured images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, showcasing new aspects of its gusty, uneven flow.
Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s CODEX (Coronal Diagnostic Experiment) investigation have successfully evaluated the instrument’s first images, revealing the speed and temperature of material flowing out from the Sun.
“The CODEX instrument is doing something new,” said Newmark.
The CODEX instrument uses four narrow-band filters — two for temperature and two for speed — to capture solar wind data.
“The CODEX instrument will impact space weather modeling by providing constraints for modelers to use in the future,” said Newmark.
Key Points:.
Images of the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, were taken by NASA’s CODEX investigation, revealing new facets of its turbulent, erratic flow.
With the use of specialized filters, the CODEX instrument, which is housed on the International Space Station, measures the temperature and speed of the solar wind. A coronagraph is a scientific instrument that uses physical disks to create an artificial eclipse.
Scientists will be able to better understand the Sun’s influence on Earth and enhance space weather models thanks to these first-of-a-kind measurements.
The first images from the instrument, which show the temperature and speed of material flowing out from the Sun, have been successfully assessed by scientists examining data from NASA’s CODEX (Coronal Diagnostic Experiment) investigation. Presented at a press conference Tuesday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, these pictures show that the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, is a region with sputtering gusts of hot plasma rather than a uniform, continuous flow of material. Scientists’ comprehension of how the Sun affects Earth and our technology in space will be enhanced by these pictures.
As the principal investigator for CODEX and a heliophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Jeffrey Newmark said, “We really never had the ability to do this kind of science before.”. “Everything fell into place: the right size instrumentation, the right kind of filters. We believe there is a lot of fascinating science to be done with these brand-new, never-before-seen observations. “”.
By obstructing the Sun’s bright face, NASA’s CODEX solar coronagraph is a tool frequently used to study the Sun’s faint corona, or outer atmosphere. Utilizing a sequence of circular pieces of material known as occulting disks at the end of a long telescope-like tube, the instrument, which is mounted on the International Space Station, produces artificial eclipses. The three metal arms that hold the occulting disks in place are roughly the size of a tennis ball.
When studying visible light from the corona, scientists frequently use coronagraphs to uncover dynamic features like solar storms that influence the weather in space and may have an effect on Earth and beyond.
“The CODEX instrument is taking a novel approach,” Newmark stated. The density of material in the corona has been measured by earlier coronagraph experiments, but CODEX is measuring the temperature and velocity of material in the slowly fluctuating solar wind that exits the Sun. “.”.
Scientists can now more accurately describe the energy at the solar wind’s origin thanks to these new measurements.
The CODEX instrument collects data on solar wind using four narrow-band filters: two for temperature and two for speed. “We can determine the temperature and speed of the coronal solar wind by comparing the brightness of the images in each of these filters,” Newmark explained.
In order to model and forecast the Sun’s behaviors, scientists need to have a more accurate picture of the Sun, which is made possible by knowing the solar wind’s temperature and speed.
“The CODEX instrument will have an impact on space weather modeling by giving modelers future constraints to work with,” Newmark said. We’re looking forward to the future. “.”.
through the NASA Science Editorial Team.
Greenbelt, Maryland: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center collaborated on CODEX, with the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) of Italy providing supplementary funding.
