First Sunrise on Hinode's instruments
Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 20:33 UTC
The Hinode (formerly Solar-B) satellite, a joint Japan/NASA/PPARC mission launched on 22nd September 2006, has today (October 31st) reported its first observations of the Sun with its suite of scientific instruments. The satellite was renamed 'Hinode' which is Japanese for Sunrise, which is most appropriate since Hinode will watch at close hand massively explosive solar flares erupting from the Sun's surface and rising into interstellar space.
Hinode has three instruments: the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), the X-Ray Telescope (XRT), and the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) which has been led by University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL).
"Waiting for the first data from an instrument that has taken years to design and build is always a heart-stopping moment," said Prof Len Culhane, EIS Principal Investigator, "We create incredibly sensitive detectors such as EIS, then strap them to a rocket and hurl them into space under extremely challenging conditions. Finding out that it survived and is working correctly is a huge relief because the options are very limited if it is not."
Each sensitive instrument has successfully survived launch, opened its protective door and taken its first test pictures of the Sun. They are now being prepared to take scientific data over the coming months and will reveal a great deal about Coronal Mass Ejections – violent explosions on the Sun that can hurl plasma at the Earth itself with serious consequences for communications networks and satellites.
Image Credit: JAXA
High resolution image (5 MB)
High resolution image of the Sun taken by the X-ray Telescope on Hinode. False colour, taken 28th October 2006.
Image Credit: JAXA
The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) opened its front door on October 25, and immediately began taking engineering test images and performing focus adjustments. This image was taken during this testing phase with SOT's broadband filter and shows convection cells that are the locations of concentration of the magnetic field.
Image Credit: JAXA
High resolution image
Full resolution version of the Solar Optical Telescope Data without labels.
Image Credit: JAXA
Image Credit: JAXA
Image Credit: JAXA
"The first pictures from Hinode show us that our satellite is in great condition," said Prof Louise Harra, EIS Project Scientist who will shortly take over the Principal Investigator role, "The images from the Solar Optical Telescope are already showing a huge improvement over those from past missions such as Yohkoh and will help us understand the Sun in new detail. The EIS instrument will watch movements in the Sun's atmosphere in unprecedented detail, allowing us to observe the build up to a Coronal Mass Ejection and eventually even predict them."
Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council News Release
