Erica Hupp/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1237/1726
Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
RELEASE: 06-374
FIRST IMAGES FROM HINODE OFFER NEW CLUES ABOUT OUR VIOLENT SUN
WASHINGTON - Instruments aboard a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
satellite named Hinode, or "Sunrise," are returning extraordinary new
images of our sun. The international mission to study the forces that
drive the violent, explosive power of the sun launched from Japan in
September.
Hinode is circling Earth in a polar flight path (a "sun-synchronous"
orbit) that allows the spacecraft's instruments to remain in
continuous sunlight for nine months each year. An international team
of scientists and engineers is performing the calibration and
checkout of Hinode's three primary instruments: the Solar Optical
Telescope, the X-ray Telescope and the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrometer. NASA made significant contributions to the development
of these scientific instruments.
"The checkout phase is crucial because it allows controllers to
confirm the spacecraft's instruments are working properly," said John
M. Davis, NASA project scientist at the Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala. "As part of this checkout, we've been treated to
some remarkable images of the sun."
Hinode's X-ray Telescope has captured unprecedented details in solar
active region corona, the sun's outer atmosphere. The corona is the
spawning ground for explosive solar activity, such as coronal mass
ejections. Powered by the sun's magnetic field, these violent
atmospheric disturbances of the sun can be of danger to space
travelers, disruptive to orbiting satellites and can cause power grid
problems on Earth.
Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope has delivered images that show
greatly magnified views of the sun's surface. These images are
revealing new details about solar convection. Solar convection is the
process that drives the rising and falling of gases in the lowest
atmospheric region, the photosphere. In addition, the Solar Optical
Telescope is the first space-borne instrument to measure the strength
and direction of the sun's magnetic field.
The Solar Optical Telescope images and magnetic maps uncover highly
dynamic, intermittent nature of the sun's lower atmosphere -
chromosphere. It is also providing revolutionary views on various
solar phenomena from heating of solar atmosphere to generation of
magnetic fields and magnetic reconnection.
Hinode's third primary instrument is the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrometer. The instrument has provided measurements of the speed
of solar material, along with information that will help scientists
diagnose the temperature and density of solar outer atmosphere. The
Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer provides a crucial link
between the other two instruments aboard Hinode since it measures the
layers that separate the photosphere from the corona: the
chromosphere and the chromosphere-corona transition region.
"These first engineering images have given us a fascinating preview of
what's on the horizon once the science phase of the mission begins,
sometime in late December," Davis said. "Once we enter that phase,
the focus will shift from calibration to using the instruments for
making continuous, simultaneous observations of specific solar
features."
By performing coordinated measurements with all three instruments,
Hinode will help scientists observe how changes in the magnetic field
at the sun's surface spread through the outer layers of the solar
atmosphere. These first images leave no doubt that Hinode
observations will revolutionize the knowledge of our nearest and most
important star, the sun.
The Hinode mission, known as "Solar-B" before launch, is led by the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The collaborative mission
includes the space agencies of Japan, the U.S., Great Britain and
Europe. Marshall managed the development of the scientific
instrumentation provided by NASA, academia and industry. Hinode's
operations center is located at JAXA's facility in Sagamihara, Japan.
For more information about Hinode, visit:
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