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Solar Orbiter

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Christoph Schirninger edited this page Apr 19, 2024 · 1 revision

This wiki page provides a brief introduction to the Solar Orbiter mission. It provides an overview of the instruments onboard the spacecraft, focusing on the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI).

Solar Orbiter

Launched in February 2020, the Solar Orbiter mission aims to capture images of the Sun closer than any spacecraft has ever done before, and for the first time, look at its unexplored polar regions. With its exceptional orbit, it approaches the Sun as close as 0.28 AU, obtaining images of unprecedented high resolution.

SolO_orbit

Instruments

The mission is equipped with six remote-sensing instruments and four sets of in-situ instruments, allowing combined studies to answer still unsolved questions about our Sun.

In-situ instruments

  • EPD: Energetic Particle Detector
  • MAG: Magnetometer
  • RPW: Radio and Plasma Waves
  • SWA: Solar Wind Plasma Analyser

Remote-sensing instruments

  • EUI: Extreme Ultraviolet Imager
  • Metis: Coronagraph
  • PHI: Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager
  • SoloHI: Heliospheric Imager
  • SPICE: Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment
  • STIX: X-ray Spectrometer/Telescope

Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI)

The instrument is composed of two High-resolution Imagers (HRI) and a Full-Sun Imager (FSI).

High Resolution Imager (HRI)

The HRIs are used to provide high spatial and temporal resolution observations at small scales and high latitudes. One of them is imaging in the EUV at 174 Å and the second HRI in the Lyman-α line. This allows observations from the high chromosphere to the low corona. The two pixel resolution is given by 1 arcsec in the perihelion (0.28 AU) and a field-of-view (FOV) of 17′×17´, corresponding to $(1 R⊙)^2$ at 1 AU and $(0.28 R⊙)^2$ at perihelion, with a 2048 × 2048 pixel array.

Full Sun Imager (FSI)

For combined full-sun observations the FSI instruments covers the two EUV channels in 174 Å and 304 Å. This enables in addition to the small scale observations a more global view on the Sun from the higher chromosphere to the low corona. The FOV is given by 3.8°×3.8°, corresponding to $(14.3 R⊙)^2$ at 1 AU and $(4.0 R⊙)^2$ at perihelion.

EUI Data products

The EUI instrument uses the FITS format for data products.

  • Level 0: Raw data
  • Level 1: Engineering data
  • Level 2: Science data products
  • Level 3: Higher level data products (compatible for JHelioviewer)

Data Access

All Solar Orbiter data can be downloaded at: https://soar.esac.esa.int/soar/

Mission Website

For more information about the mission and the individual instruments, see: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/solar-orbiter/

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