The Sun unleashed a spectacular series of eruptions during October and November 2003, including the most powerful X-ray flare and some of the most energetic coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever recorded. Three solar active regions produced CMEs, flares, energetic particles, and interplanetary shocks of unprecedented intensity over a two-week period. These events were observed in detail and tracked all the way from the Sun to the Earth and beyond by a fleet of spacecraft, including SOHO, TRACE, ACE, WIND, and SMEI. Spacecraft located beyond 1 AU, including Ulysses, Cassini and the Voyagers, also detected the shocks from these eruptions. CMEs arrived at the Earth in less than a day, resulting in huge geomagnetic storms, radio blackouts, and intense aurora that were observed as far south as Florida on the nights of October 29th and 30th. These eruptions provide an important opportunity to understand the origins of extreme solar activity, the response of the Earth’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere to this activity, and the impact on technological systems on the ground and in space. Fortuitously, Earth and Mars were closely aligned at the time of these events, and some observations were obtained at Mars. This ties the study of these events directly to the NASA Vision for Space Exploration.
These events have been the subject of special sessions at the Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 AGU meetings, and a special publication spanning the Journal of Geophysical Research, Geophysical Research Letters, and Space Weather containing papers on these events is in press. There is a lot of work being done on these events, and SHINE will bring a broad perspective to bear on some of the more focused studies.
The SHINE campaign will focus primarily on the solar events of October 28th and 29th, and November 4th, 2003, and the response of the heliosphere to these events. Other events occurring in the period from October 18th, 2003, when AR 484 first became visible on the east limb of the Sun, to November 4th, 2003, will also be considered part of the campaign. The events of October 28th and 29th originated in AR 486 when it was near disk center, thus providing a detailed view of the evolution of the source region before, during, and after the launch of successive energetic CMEs. Because the source region was located close to disk center, both events directly impacted Earth, and both resulted in extreme levels of geomagnetic activity and intense energetic particle events. The event on November 4th also originated in AR 486 when it was close to the West limb. This was the largest X-ray flare ever recorded, with an estimated magnitude of X28, and it was accompanied by a large, fast CME and a moderate particle storm at Earth.
Figure 1: X17 flare and CME on October 28th, 2003. Active regions numbers are indicated on the image of the Sun from the SOHO Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI, top left). The EIT image of the corona (top right) shows a bright flare in AR 486. LASCO C2 and C3 images (bottom left and right) show a fast halo CME. The bright specks in the C3 image are caused by energetic particles striking the camera during the exposure. The location and size of the Sun are indicated by the white circle, and the filled circle surrounding the Sun is the portion of the image that is blocked by the coronagraph occulting mask. The lower left portion of the C3 image is blocked by the mechanical structure that supports the occulter.
Figure 2: X28 flare and CME on November 4th, 2003. No large active regions are visible on the MDI image of the Sun (top left). A flare is seen on the limb in EIT (top right). LASCO C2 and C3 show a large, fast CME with complex internal structure (bottom left and right). The location and size of the Sun are indicated by the white circle, and the filled circle surrounding the Sun is the portion of the image that is blocked by the coronagraph occulting mask. The lower left portion of the C3 image is blocked by the mechanical structure that supports the occulter.
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