SOHO - Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

SOHO - Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) was launched 2nd December, 1995 on an Atlas IIAS. It was built in Europe and carries European and American Instruments with international participation. It is studying the Sun.

SOHO is a project of international collaboration between ESA and NASA to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind. The SOHO spacecraft was built in Europe by an industry team led by prime contractor Matra Marconi Space (now EADS Astrium) under overall management by ESA. The twelve instruments on board SOHO were provided by European and American scientists. Nine of the international instrument consortia are led by European Principal Investigators (PI's), three by PI's from the US.

Large engineering teams and more than 200 co-investigators from many institutions supported the PI's in the development of the instruments and in the preparation of their operations and data analysis. NASA was responsible for the launch and is now responsible for mission operations. Large radio dishes around the world which form NASA's Deep Space Network are used for data downlink and commanding. Mission control is based at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

SOHO has provided information about the Sun, from its interior, through the hot and dynamic atmosphere, to the solar wind and its interaction with the interstellar medium. They include the following:

- Revealing the first images ever of a star’s convection zone (its turbulent outer shell) and of the structure of sunspots below the surface.

- Providing the most detailed and precise measurements of the temperature structure, the interior rotation, and gas flows in the solar interior.

- Measuring the acceleration of the slow and fast solar wind.

- Identifying the source regions and acceleration mechanism of the fast solar wind in the magnetically "open" regions at the Sun's poles.

- Discovering new dynamic solar phenomena such as coronal waves and solar tornadoes.

SOHO Links:

Reference:

SOHO: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

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