Cosmicopia title
BASICS .. COSMIC RAYS .. SUN .. SPACE WEATHER

Glossary:
I and J

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N.. O.. P.. Q.. R.. S.. T.. U.. V.. W.. X.. Y.. Z..



I

Impulsive flares
One of two general types of solar flares. Impulsive flares accelerate mostly electrons, with some protons. They last for minutes or hours, and most occur near the solar equator. They happen at a rate of about 1000 per year during solar maximum.

Interplanetary
Between the planets in our solar system.

Interplanetary Shock Particles
Particles accelerated by shocks associated with solar flares and CMEs

Interstellar
Between the stars.

Interstellar dust
Solid clumps of particles (atoms, molecules, and/or ions) in the interstellar medium. They may have a charge due to some loss of electrons.

Interstellar gas
Single particles (atoms, molecules, and ions) in the interstellar medium. Interstellar gas particles travel at considerably less than the speed of light, in contrast to galactic cosmic rays. They may have a charge due to some loss of electrons.

Interstellar medium
The gas and dust in the space between the stars.

More about the interstellar medium...

Ion
An atom that carries a positive or negative electric charge as a result of having lost or gained one or more electrons.

More about ions...

Isotope
Atoms that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. They are atoms of the same element that have different masses. The isotope number is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons.

More about isotopes...



J

JPL
The Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

More about JPL...



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BASICS .. COSMIC RAYS .. SUN .. SPACE WEATHER

TRACE sun mosaic Supernova 1006 (ASCA) 30
Doradus ACE
spacecraft TRACE solar flare IMAGE magnetosphere
Click on images above to learn more about them


A service of the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's GSFC

Questions and comments to: cosmicopia@cosmicra.gsfc.nasa.gov
Curator: Dr Eric R. Christian, NASA
Responsible NASA Official: Dr Eric R. Christian

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This file was last modified: December 14, 2004