Heliophysics

Heliophysics

Heliophysics is a word created by NASA administrators to encompass the study of the system composed of the Sun's heliosphere and the objects that interact with it -- most notably, but not limited to, plantary atmospheres and magnetospheres, the solar corona, and the interstellar medium. Heliophysics combines several other disciplines, including several branches of space physics, plasma physics, and solar physics. Heliophysics is closely tied to the study of space weather and the phenomena that affect it.

Heliophysics is a division within NASA's Science Mission Directorate, including Earth, Heliophysics, Planets, and Astrophysics. The word was created to simplify the name of the "Sun Solar System Connections" Division (and before that, the "Sun-Earth Connections" Division). There is some controversy behind the naming of this division, since the base-word "Helio" means sun. The word "Heliophysics" literally means "Physics of the Sun", which, therefore, does not adequately describe the majority of the science that is conducted within the Heliophysics division. Further, NASA has dramatically increased the number of solar and heliospheric satellite missions, while decreasing the number of upper atmospheric missions. This, in combination with the renaming of the division, has created some feelings of alienation by researchers within the division.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • heliophysics — Saulės fizika statusas T sritis fizika atitikmenys: angl. heliophysics; physics of the Sun; solar physics vok. Sonnenphysik, f rus. гелиофизика, f; физика Солнца, f pranc. héliophysique, f; physique du Soleil, f; physique solaire, f …   Fizikos terminų žodynas

  • heliophysics — noun The physics of the heliosphere …   Wiktionary

  • National Space Science Data Center — The National Space Science Data Center serves as the permanent archive for NASA space science mission data. Space science pertains to astronomy and astrophysics, solar and space plasma physics, and planetary and lunar science. As the permanent… …   Wikipedia

  • NASA — For other uses, see NASA (disambiguation). For news about NASA or space, see Wikinews space portal Coordinates …   Wikipedia

  • Voyager program — This article is about the unmanned space probes of the 1970s. For other uses, see Voyager. The trajectories that enabled Voyager spacecraft to visit the outer planets and achieve velocity to escape our solar system The Voyager program is a U.S… …   Wikipedia

  • Living With a Star — (LWS) is a NASA scientific program to study those aspects of the connected Sun Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is a crosscutting initiative with goals and objectives relevant to NASA s Exploration Initiative, as well as to …   Wikipedia

  • Outer space — For other uses, see Outer space (disambiguation). The boundaries between the Earth s surface and outer space, at the Kármán line, 100 km (62 mi) and exosphere at 690 km (430 mi). Not to scale Outer space is the void that exists beyond any… …   Wikipedia

  • Geomagnetic storm — This article is about disturbances within Earth s magnetosphere. For other uses of magnetic storm , see Magnetic storm (disambiguation). Solar particles interact with Earth s magnetosphere. A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Goddard Space Flight Center — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Aerial view of Goddard Space Flight Center …   Wikipedia

  • Kelvin–Helmholtz instability — Numerical simulation of a temporal Kelvin–Helmholtz instability The Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, after Lord Kelvin and Hermann von Helmholtz, can occur when velocity shear is present within a continuous fluid, or when there is sufficient… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”