Study of the Sun Earth Connection—Part III
The lone remote sensing instrument for the Solar Probe+ is the Hemispheric Imager or “HI” for short. Consisting of a telescope that will make 3D images similar to medical CAT scans of the Sun’s corona, this new coronal tomography is one of the newest developments available for solar imaging, with photography performed from a moving platform close to the sun. While flying through the coronal clouds and streamers, it will image as it flies through it.
With US Patent 5508734, HI was licensed under the title “Method and apparatus for hemispheric imaging which emphasizes peripheral content,” issued on April 16, 1996. A system for electronic imaging and manipulation of a hemispheric field of view, the HI comprises a camera for receiving optical images. The images of a hemispheric field of view and for producing output a signal also affects photographic film-based materials corresponding to the optical images.
The photographic process will strut its stuff at the beginning of the Solar Probe+’s prime mission, which will be near the end of Solar Cycle 24, finishing near the maximum estimation date of Solar Cycle 25 in 2022. The reasoning is for the probe to experience the corona at its best in all phases of the solar cycles, with the majority of solar storms toward the end. The researchers for the mission theorize that the most dangerous of the particles are produced by the solar storms and energized in the corona area. The mission will focus in this area, observing the entire process in action in order to forecast Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events, which have the ability to threaten the health and safety of astronauts in space.
Considered one of the most dynamic engines behind all solar phenomena, this particular type of energy source is the cause of space weather. It affects it in many ways, structuring it in many ways—the sun’s atmosphere, its wind and corona. Beginning in 1610, Galileo made the first European observations of the sunspots, with daily observations first began in 1749 within the Zurich Observatory.
During the early periods of Earth, it was indicated that the Sun appears to have went through a serious period of inactivity in the late 1600s even though it is stated by NASA that this period was not as intensive as during later years. A period of “Little Ice Age” corresponded to this period of solar inactivity, similar to a time when rivers froze and snow fields remained year-round in lower altitudes. This connection between solar activity and terrestrial climate has been and is now an area of on-going research.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 am and is filed under Mission History, Space Agency News, The Gear to Get There. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
