The First Results from SOHO - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792348826 ISBN 13: 9780792348825

Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998

Synopsis

The aim of the VIRGO investigation (Variability of solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations) on SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) is to determine the characteristics of pressure and internal gravity oscillations by observing irradiance and radiance variations, to measure the solar total and spectral irradiance and to quantify their variability over periods of days to the duration of the mission. VIRGO contains two different active-cavity radiometers for monitoring the sol­ ar 'constant' (DIARAD and PM06-V), two three-channel sunphotometers (SPM) for the measurement of the spectral irradiance at 402, 500, and 862 nm with a bandwidth of 5 nm, and a low-resolution imager (Luminosity Oscillation Imager, LOI) with 12 'scientific' and 4 guiding pixels, for measuring the radiance dis­ tribution over the solar disk: at 500 nm. The instrumentation has been described in detail by Frohlich et al. (1995). In addition, the observed in-flight performance and operational aspects of the irradiance observations are described by Frohlich et al. (1997), and those of the LOI by Appourchaux et al. (1997).

About this title

Review

`All papers have been refereed and this is reflected in their high quality. ... The price is very high but if you can spend the money this is a book worth having.'

The Observatory, 18

Synopsis

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a joint ESA/NASA mission to study the Sun, from its deep core to the outer corona, and the solar wind. SOHO was launched on 2 December 1995 and was inserted into a halo orbit around the L1 Lagrangian point on 14 February 1996. From this vantage point it is continuously monitoring the Sun, the heliosphere, and the solar wind particles that stream toward the Earth. Nominal operations of the SOHO mission started in April 1996 after commissioning of the spacecraft and the scientific payload. Detailed descriptions of the twelve instruments, which represent the most comprehensive set of solar and heliospheric instruments ever developed and placed on the same platform, can be found in The SOHO Mission (Solar Physics, Vol. 162, Nos. 1-2, 1995). This volume contains papers reporting the first scientific results from the SOHO mission as well as descriptions of the in-flight performance of some of the instruments, published in two parts of a Solar Physics special (Part I in Solar Physics, Vol. 170, No. 1; Part II in Solar Physics, Vol. 175, No. 2).

Unique data from the three helioseismology instruments (GOLF, VIRGO, MDI/SOI) provide new insights into the structure and dynamics of the solar interior, from the deep core to the outermost layers of the convection zone. The remote sensing instruments (SUMER, CDS, EIT, LASCO, UVCS, SWAN) present exciting new data on a wide range of topics such as transition region dynamics, coronal plumes, coronal holes, streamers, and coronal mass ejections, giving us our first comprehensive view of the outer solar atmosphere and corona. These data are complemented by energetic particle measurements produced by the ERNE instrument on board SOHO. A CD-ROM with multimedia material (images, movies, animations, and sounds) is included as an integral part of this volume.

Edition details

• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0792348826
• ISBN 13: 9780792348825
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 810
• Editor: Fleck Bernhard, Svestka Zdenek