NASA Launches IRIS Solar Observatory

Posted on June 29, 2013

NASA launched its Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite on Thursday using an airplane and a Pegasus XL rocket. Here is raw footage of the launch. Take a look:

IRIS will study a little understood region of the Sun's lower atmosphere. IRIS will study the interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona. In this region, all but a few percent of the non-radiative energy leaving the Sun is converted into heat and radiation. The interface region also is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. Take a look:

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