An artist's concept shows the ESA-NASA SOHO spacecraft.
Spacecraft: ESA/ATG medialab; Sun: ESA/NASA SOHO, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

SoHO

The SoHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory – ESA/NASA) mission was designed to study the Sun’s internal structure, the heating of its atmosphere, and the origins and acceleration of the solar wind. It was launched in late 1995 from Cape Canaveral and is still in operation.

The Role of the IAS

Team members serve as co-investigators (Co-I) on four of the twelve instruments aboard the SOHO spacecraft, which observes the Sun from every angle: GOLF (Global Oscillation at Low Frequency), EIT (Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope), SUMER ( Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation), and VIRGO (Variability of Solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations). One team member is the principal investigator (PI) for the GOLF instrument.

The team led the design and development of these instruments and contributed to others on the mission, resulting in many team members serving as Co-Investigators (Co-I) for these instruments and actively participating in their operation. MEDOC makes available all the data produced by the twelve instruments on SOHO.

Data access: https://idoc.osups.universite-paris-saclay.fr/medoc/

"Full sun" image captured on July 14, 2000, by EIT/SOHO.
 
Image obtained in the Fe XII line at 19.5 nm, a line formed at a temperature of approximately 1.5 million degrees. The horizontal streak is the signature of a solar flare whose emission “bleed” onto the EIT detector. The zoom image was captured of the flare region more than an hour before the flare occurred. 
 
The luminous loops certainly trace the region's magnetic configuration (which tends to be bipolar) as well as the electric currents (loops perpendicular to the former) that generate the magnetic fields.
 
This event is known as the “Bastille Day flare.”

 In operation

Launch: 1995

Contacts

Advisors (scientific and technical)

  • Karine Bocchialini, Solar and Stellar Physics Team (SUMER instrument)
  • Frédéric Auchère, Director of the IAS, Solar and Stellar Physics Team (EIT instrument)
  • Patrick Boumier, Solar and Stellar PhysicsTeam (GOLF instrument)
  • Thierry Appourchaux, Solar and Stellar PhysicsTeam (VIRGO instrument)

For more information:

SOHO, the Sun-watcher, celebrates its 30th anniversary

NASA and ESA's Sun Observatory Marks 30 Years

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