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Marshall News

Hurricane Jeanne, seen from Space Station on Sept. 25, 2004
FEATURED PHOTO
Hurricane Jeanne

Marshall Headlines

Motions in nearby galaxy cluster reveal presence of hidden superstructure

Gravity Probe B mission begins collecting science to test Einstein's theory

  

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For release: 10/16/2003
 Photo release #: N03-011

From a family of 13 in Yazoo City, Miss., to NASA's solar observatory in Alabama, James Smith catches one of solar system's biggest shows

Photo description: <strong>Smith</strong>Large 1960 x 3008 (300)
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James E. Smith

As chief observer at the Solar Vector Magnetograph, a solar observatory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville , Ala. , James E. Smith recently had a front-row seat to some of the most intense solar activity tracked since the 1970s.

Assembled in 1973 to support the Skylab mission and upgraded in 2000 to take advantage of current technology, the magnetograph works by measuring the polarization of the light produced in sunspots, active regions on the Sun. This measurement yields the magnetic intensity and direction for the field. For more details on the measurement of vector magnetic fields, see:

http://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/magmore.htm (NASA/MSFC/Dennis Olive)

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