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(IAAC) SOHO : the @stro object for the week of 05/01/2000
@stro object of the week
drafted by the @stro pages
the week of 05/01/2000
highlighted this week: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
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The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, is a solar research
satellite jointly operated by the European Space Agency and NASA. It has
helped us to understand the interactions between the Sun and the Earth's
environment better than has been possible to date. SOHO was pushed up
through and out of our atmosphere by a two stage Atlas-IIAS rocket on
December 2, 1995. SOHO operates from a position 1.5 million kilometers ahead
of the Earth in a halo orbit around the "L1 Lagrangian point" resulting in
an uninterrupted view of the Sun.
The Science
SOHO contains several scientific instruments and cameras from which it
captures images of the Sun. These cameras take pictures in H-Alpha, Iron,
Calcium, the visible spectrum and other wavelengths of the spectrum. In
addition, the onboard science packages are studying the solar interior,
exterior, atmosphere, and solar wind. SOHO instruments produce a data stream
of up to 200 kilobits per second that can be transmitted continuously to the
DSN stations of Goldstone (USA), Canberra (Australia) and Madrid (Spain),
when each is visible from SOHO due to the daily rotation of the Earth. Data
from SOHO is also used to provide warnings of impending solar storms that
might affect communications and other electrical equipment here on Earth.
SOHO as a Planetary Telescope
You've probably already heard that several of the planets are within 25
degrees of each other in the sky from our perspective on and around May 5th,
2000 (and no - our planet will not self-destruct as a result). We can't see
this alignment because it is occurring on the other side of the Sun from us,
but we can view some of the planets with the help of SOHO (as of
05/03/2000). Go to http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html
select the LASCO C3 image. According to Dennis Mammana of the Reuben H.
Fleet Science Center the bright planets in the image are Saturn, Jupiter and
Mercury from left to right respectively. You can also check out the MPEG
movie page at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mpeg/ and select
C3 and view the planets actually moving in their orbits or you can download
one of the example movies by clicking below (credit SOHO) .
Current information for SOHO:
Mass: 610 kg
Length: 3.65 m
Width: 3.65 m
Width with solar cells deployed: 9.5m
For more information visit:
Official SOHO page...
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Real-time SOHO images...
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html
More on the mission...
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/descriptions/mission/english/
SOHO Science operations...
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/operations/
The image(s) that accompanied this article...
http://theastropages.com/astroobjects/images/soho.jpg
http://theastropages.com/images/soho_20000503_1842_c3.jpg
Movie of planetary movement...
ftp://ftp.theastropages.com/multimedia/soho_current_c3small.mpeg
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Clear skies,
Roger Herzler
the @stro pages
http://theastropages.com
Copyright (c) 2000 the @stro pages
Permission granted to reprint this article
if it is reprinted in its entirety and you
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