Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
RELEASE M13-117

NASA Discusses First IRIS Solar Images in Media Teleconference

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 25, to present the first images from NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), which was launched June 27 on a mission to study the sun.

After its telescope door opened July 17, IRIS's imaging spectrograph began to observe the sun in exceptional detail. IRIS is targeting a region of the sun that is only now possible to observe in detail: the lowest layers of the sun's atmosphere, or interface region, which powers the sun's million-degree atmosphere and drives the solar wind.

The panelists for the briefing are:

-- John Grunsfeld, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- S. Pete Worden, director, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

-- Alan Title, IRIS principal investigator, Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif.

-- Gary Kushner, IRIS project manager, Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif.

-- Bart DePontieu, IRIS science lead, Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif.

Journalists who want to participate in the teleconference must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov no later than noon Thursday. Supporting information will be available online just before the briefing at:

http://www.nasa.gov/sunearth

The teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about the IRIS mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/iris