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SWAP (instrument)
The Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing (SWAP) telescope is a compact EUV imager on board the Proba-2, PROBA-2 mission that will observe the Sun in extreme ultraviolet (EUV). SWAP will provide images of the solar corona at a temperature of roughly 1 million degrees. This instrument was built upon the heritage of the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) which monitors the solar corona since 1996. SWAP will continue the systematic coronal mass ejection (CME) watch program at an improved image cadence (typically 1 image every minute). With this higher cadence, SWAP will monitor events in the low solar corona that might be relevant for space weather. These events include EIT waves (global waves propagating across the solar disc from the CME eruption site), EUV dimming regions (transient coronal holes from where the CME has lifted off) and filament instabilities (a specific type of flickering during the rise of a filament). SWAP will also take ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Corona
A corona ( coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's atmosphere. It consists of plasma. The Sun's corona lies above the chromosphere and extends millions of kilometres into outer space. It is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but it is also observable with a coronagraph. Spectroscopic measurements indicate strong ionization in the corona and a plasma temperature in excess of , much hotter than the surface of the Sun, known as the photosphere. The word ''corona'' is , in turn derived . History In 1724, French-Italian astronomer Giacomo F. Maraldi recognized that the aura visible during a solar eclipse belongs to the Sun, not to the Moon. In 1809, Spanish astronomer José Joaquín de Ferrer coined the term 'corona'. Based in his own observations of the 1806 solar eclipse at Kinderhook (New York), de Ferrer also proposed that the corona was part of the Sun and not of the Moon. English astronomer Norman Lockyer identified the first element unknown on E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) is an instrument on the SOHO spacecraft used to obtain high-resolution images of the solar corona in the ultraviolet range. The EIT instrument is sensitive to light of four different wavelengths: 17.1, 19.5, 28.4, and 30.4 nm, corresponding to light produced by highly ionized iron (XI)/(X), (XII), (XV), and helium (II), respectively. EIT is built as a single telescope with a quadrant structure to the entrance mirrors: each quadrant reflects a different colour of EUV light, and the wavelength to be observed is selected by a shutter that blocks light from all but the desired quadrant of the main telescope. The EIT wavelengths are of great interest to solar physicists because they are emitted by the very hot solar corona but not by the relatively cooler photosphere of the Sun; this reveals structures in the corona that would otherwise be obscured by the brightness of the Sun itself. EIT was originally conceived as a viewfinder instr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coronal Mass Ejection
A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a significant release of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. CMEs are often associated with solar flares and other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding of these relationships has not been established. If a CME enters interplanetary space, it is referred to as an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME). ICMEs are capable of reaching and colliding with Earth's magnetosphere, where they can cause geomagnetic storms, aurorae, and in rare cases damage to electrical power grids. The largest recorded geomagnetic perturbation, resulting presumably from a CME, was the solar storm of 1859. Also known as the Carrington Event, it disabled parts of the at the time newly created United States telegraph network, starting fires and shocking some telegraph operators. Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima, there is about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liège Space Center
Liège Space Center (french: Centre spatial de Liège, CSL) is a research center of the University of Liège in Belgium. It holds a hundred people, half of whom are engineers and scientists. The activities of the CSL are specialized in optics, space technologies and space environment testing. History The CSL is run by the space group of the Institute of Astrophysics of the University of Liège. The space group, formed in the mid-1960s, began its activities by observations of aurora rocket probes. Twenty payloads have been launched, mainly from the base at Kiruna in Sweden. In 1972, the space group realized the instrument mapping the sky in ultraviolet light from the European satellite TD-1A. This mapping led to catalogs containing new information on more than 30,000 hot stars. CSL studied and realized prototypes of some detectors of the Hubble Space Telescope. In the early 1980s, CSL participated in the development of the " Halley Multicolour Camera", which embarked aboard the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Observatory Of Belgium
The Royal Observatory of Belgium (french: link=no, Observatoire Royal de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België), has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels (Belgium) since 1890. It was first established in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in 1826 by William I under the impulse of Adolphe Quetelet. It was home to a diameter aperture Zeiss reflector in the first half of the 20th century, one of the largest telescopes in the world at the time. It owns a variety of other astronomical instruments, such as astrographs, as well as a range of seismograph equipment (for detecting earthquakes). Its main activities are: * Reference systems and geodynamics; * Astrometry and dynamics of celestial bodies; * Astrophysics; * Solar physics. The asteroid 1276 Ucclia is named in honour of the city and the observatory and 16908 Groeselenberg is named for the hill the observatory is located on. History 19th century Adolphe Quetelet first petitioned the government of the Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SWAP (New Horizons)
SWAP (Solar Wind Around Pluto) is an science instrument aboard the unmanned ''New Horizons'' space probe, which was designed to flyby dwarf planet Pluto. SWAP was designed to record Solar Wind en route, at, and beyond Pluto. At Pluto, SWAP's purpose was to record the relationship between the solarwind and ions and/or material entering space from the atmosphere of Pluto. Background The atmosphere of Pluto was discovered in 1988, but it remained enigmatic and it was hard to understand an atmosphere existing in such low temperatures (45 Kelvin (–380° Fahrenheit)). One of the ideas about Pluto is atmospheric loss, with Pluto being compared to losses from comets. The idea of atmospheric loss was suggested in 1980, even before the atmosphere was discovered. One idea is the photoionization of escaping neutral particles might alter the flow solar wind around the dwarf planet. The atmosphere was known to be very tenuous compared to Earth, and one of the questions was how the gases we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embedded Systems
An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within, it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use today. , it was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems. Modern embedded systems are often based on microcontrollers (i.e. microprocessors with integrated memory and peripheral interfaces), but ordinary microprocessors (using external chips for memory and peripheral interface circuits) are also common, especially in more complex systems. In either case, the processor(s) used m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
