Orbits of heliophysics missions. Animation showing the orbits of numerous heliophysics missions being carried out by spacecraft from near-Earth orbit (NEO) out to the orbit of the Moon, with the magnetosphere shown at the end of the clip. The date (lower left) is November 2013. The orbits are colour-coded by type of observations: magenta for TIM (thermosphere, ionosphere, mesosphere) observations; yellow for solar observations and imagery; cyan for geospace and magnetosphere; violet for heliospheric observations. The spacecraft are: Hinode, RHESSI, TIMED, FAST, CINDI, SORCE, AIM, two Van Allen probes, TWINS, IRIS, SDO, GOES, Geotail, Cluster, THEMIS, IBEX, and ARTEMIS. |