The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias participates in the XX anniversary of the SOHO satellite

Design of SOHO satellite. Credit: ESA.
Design of SOHO satellite. Credit: ESA.
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On Thursday 12th May the space agencies ESA and NASA celebrated at a workshop the XX anniversary of the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite at the Institut D'Astrophysique Spatiale(IAS), at Orsay, Paris, a reunion at which members of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) were present. The IAC participated from the start in two of the twelve instuments on board the satellite: GOLF (Global Oscillations at Low Frequency) and VIRGO (Variability of IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations). The previous day during the afternoon the group of researchers on this latter instrument held another commemorative workshop.

SOHO was launched on December 2nd 1995 and was placed at the L1 Lagrangian point on an orbit predicted to last two years with a possible extensión to four. Its objective was an in depth study of the Sun using twelve sophisticated instruments which have now been working for 20 years, yielding very valuable information about our star. This satellite, which was even “lost” in space for several months during 1998, has produced over 5,000 articles which have revolutionized the field of Solar Physics. The celebration was a tribute to one of the most productive and long-lasting satellites which have been launched in the past decades.

 

More information in two articles published in the IAC’s blog "Vía Láctea, s/n":

- "Looking at the Sun without a pause" by Antonio Jiménez (IAC): http://www.iac.es/blog/vialactea/?p=935

- "The Odyssey of SoHO" by Teodoro Roca Cortés (IAC/ULL): http://www.iac.es/blog/vialactea/?p=594

News type
Press release

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