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Reference Sites (See also space.com's Earthcam and Solar System overview)
- NASA: Observatorium page;
the Earth page,
and the Earth observatory.
- General Information: The Nine Planets Earth page;
American Association of Amateur Astronomers page;
The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research website,
in the UK; ExploreZone Earth page;
Space.com Earth pages;
Virtual Journey into the Universe pages.
- Images: JPL pages;
NASA's Visible Earth directory.
The Earth's Past: Formation
and Evolution
- Sites: Brock University page.
- Article: J.C. Armstrong et al, "Rummaging through
Earth's attic for remains of ancient life", astro-ph/0207316.
- K. Edwards & B. Rosen, From the Beginning, The
Natural History Museum 2000.
- P. Cattermole, Building Planet Earth: Five Billion Years
of Earth History, Cambridge University Press 2000.
The Earth's Present (see also the Sun's
effect on Earth, Gravity, and Meteoroids)
- Tectonics: Aki Roberge's page.
- Volcanoes: howstuffworks.com page;
Space.com Sept 02 article;
Aki Roberge's page.
- Surface: Urban sprawl and forest fragmentation animations.
- Oceans: Smithsonian's Ocean
Planet.
- Atmosphere: UTK general information page;
NASA general page
and pages on hurricanes
and lightning;
Plymouth State College pages on clouds;
Les Cowley's pages on atmospheric
optics.
- Auroras: Sky & Telescope page on auroras;
University of Alaska forecast page.
- Space Junk: J.R. Chiles, "Space Trash,"
Smithsonian, Jan 1999.
- Magnetosphere: NASA tutorial site;
Carnegie Institution Department of Terrestrial Magnetism site; NASA page
on trapped radiation, and page
on gaps in the magnetic field.
Spacecraft Exploration:
Past Missions
- AMPTE
(Active Magnetospheric Particle Trace Explorers): A mission launched
in 1984, which consisted of three spacecraft, designed to study
energetic magnetospheric ions.
- IMAGE (Imager
for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration): Launched in March
2000 for a 2-year mission on the effect of the solar wind on
Earth's magnetosphere, with an immense cross-shaped radio antenna,
500 m from tip to tip, along a highly eccentric orbit from which
at times it could capture the whole Earth, and its fluorescing
plasma, within the photographic frame (SWRI,
NASA, SFN).
Spacecraft Exploration:
Present Missions (see
also the Space
Exploration and Sun pages)
- Cluster II: Four satellites (Rumba, Salsa, Samba,
Tango) flying in a tetrahedron formation about 600 km apart;
launched by ESA in summer 2000, instruments turned on by November;
their goal is to map the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar
wind (0106,
0107
articles).
- DSP
(Double Star Program): An ESA-China program consisting of two
satellites that study the Earth's magnetosphere; the first one
was launched in Dec 2003.
- Earthshine
project: A project to measure the amount of sunlight
reflected from the Earth and then back to the Earth from the
dark portion of the face of the Moon, as a way to determine the
Earth's albedo and thus monitor the Earth's climate. Started
in 1998.
- ERS satellites (10th anniversary article).
- GRACE
(Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment): A pair of satellites
launched in March 2002 that will measure the Earth's gravitational
field with an unprecedented accuracy, making it possible to detect
minor changes caused by the circulating magma in the Earth's
interior, or by melting glaciers or changing ocean currents (SFN
article).
- SeaStar
satellite: NASA remote sensing mission carrying
the SeaWiFS instrument, launched to low Earth orbit in 1997.
- Terra satellite:
Launched in 1999, its mission is to track clouds, water vapor,
aerosol particles, trace gases, and the land and ocean surfaces
(0106
article).
Future Missions and Plans
- GOCE
(Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer):
ESA mission scheduled for launch in 2005.
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