Subject line: study of the Sun and its phenomena

Responsibility of the mission: ESA/NASA

Date of launch: December 2nd, 1995

End of mission: ongoing

 

Description

SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) is a space telescope located 1,5 million kilometers away from Earth; it continuously monitors the Sun’s turbulent activity, restoring significant images and data of solar storms. Launched on December 2nd, 1995, from the Spaceport Florida Launch Complex 36, SOHO is often defined as the most important existing comet discoverer, since it discovered more than 2300 bodies in its over 20 years of operation. This skill is due to a privileged point of view, which allows the telescope to always keep the Sun and the objects approaching it under control. In fact, SOHO rotates along with the Earth around our star, in the L1 Lagrange point, where the combined gravities of the two bodies allows for an uninterrupted view of the Sun.

This choice allows the 12 on-board instruments to produce a huge amount of data and images, which are partly made public. In fact, the scientific community has been participating in the SOHO mission for many years, obtaining relevant results in the field of solar wind physics (for both the corona and the heliosphere).

 

Scientific goals

The probe carries on-board 12 scientific instruments; each of them is capable of observing independently the Sun, from the structure and dynamics of its internal part to the solar wind. In particular, the mission studies the temperature of the corona, the most external layer of the atmosphere

‣ News

THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2023

SPEI SATELLES: A SPACE MISSION TO BRING A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO ALL HUMANITY ‣

The space mission, its genesis, its details and its prospects, will be communicated at 10.30 on 27 March, the third anniversary of the Statio Orbis and the tenth of the pontificate of Pope Francis - Sala Marconi, Piazza Pia 3 Rome MORE...

WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2023

ITALIAN PRESIDENT, SERGIO MATTARELLA, VISITS THE “LUIGI BROGLIO” SPACE CENTER IN MALINDI ‣

President Mattarella's first Official Visit to Kenya. Watch the video on AsiTV MORE...

TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2023

The 13th Farinella Prize ‣

The prize is assigned during the EPSC annual meetings MORE...

FRIDAY 03 MARCH 2023

PRISMA in support of the ESA EO Africa initiative ‣

The ASI hyperspectral satellite acquires in Kenya for the HyRELIEF project funded by ESA MORE...

WEDNESDAY 01 MARCH 2023

Agreement between the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Italian Space Agency for heritage study and protection ‣

“Eyes” in space to protect  our national cultural heritage. Cultural heritage data collection kicks off through the COSMO-SkyMed system developed by ASI in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense MORE...