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Mission Images

SOHO overview

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Credits: ESA

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SOHO spacecraft sees two comets plunge into the Sun. In a rare celestial spectacle, two comets were observed plunging into the Sun's atmosphere in close succession, on 1 and 2 June 2000. This unusual event on Earth's own star was followed on 2 June 2000 by a likely unrelated but also dramatic ejection of solar gas and magnetic fields on the southwest (or lower right) limb of the Sun.

Credits: ESA

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This temperature map of the Sun's corona was recorded by the EIT instrument on SOHO at 01:00 UT on 21 June 2001. (This coincides with the period of total solar eclipse seen by observers in southern Africa.) In the image bright indicates hotter plasma, dark areas cooler plasma.

Credits: SOHO/EIT (ESA & NASA)

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A solar flare, 26-Nov-2000

Credits: SOHO/EIT

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Credits: ESA/NASA

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Actual MDI observations of supergranulation

The thousands of networks of cells called supergranules that cover the Sun's surface are most easily visible in 'dopplergrams'. A dopplergram, such as this one from the SOHO spacecraft, shows motions on the Sun's surface with areas moving toward us appearing dark, and areas moving away, bright. This image is the result of averaging 30 velocity images and subtracting the Sun's rotation, and can also be thought of as a map of the speed of the Sun's surface. Supergranules are large cells, measuring around 30 000 kilometres across (about two Earths across) but their origin and depth are currently unknown.

Credits: SOHO/MDI (ESA/NASA)

Mission

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Artist's impression of the SOHO spacecraft.

Credits: ESA (Image by Total Design)

Last update: 21 October 2009

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SOHO factsheet

Safety tips for observing the Sun How the Sun affects us on Earth Space weather What are solar flares?