WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 23, to discuss new observations of a large active region in the sun's 1- million-degree atmosphere called the corona.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO [1])

Researchers have been studying detailed images from the High Resolution Coronal (Hi-C) Imager telescope with its 9.5-inch diameter mirror. The instrument was launched aboard a sounding rocket in July 2012 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

The media teleconference participants are:

-- Jeff Newmark, sounding rocket program scientist, Heliophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- Jonathan Cirtain, Hi-C mission principal investigator, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
-- Karel Schrijver, senior fellow, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
-- Amy Winebarger, senior astrophysicist, Marshall Space Flight Center

Reporters can obtain dial-in information by sending an email to Dwayne Brown at dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov. Requests must include reporter's name, affiliation, and telephone number.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio [2]

Related images for the teleconference will be available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/sunearth [3]

For more information about NASA's sounding rocket program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/soundingrockets [4]

SOURCE NASA