Latest images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO – EIT/LASCO/MDI)
EIT images
Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (or EIT) images show the solar atmosphere at several wavelengths. Therefore, it shows solar material at different temperatures. The lower the temperature, the deeper you look in the solar atmosphere. At the end of 2010 July, EIT has completed fourteen and a half years of synoptic observations of the low corona. SDO AIA images at much higher resolution and time cadence are now available for all the EIT wavebands, and three other EUV wavelengths as well. The telemetry bandwidth that has been used by EIT is now used by LASCO to improve the cadence of its observations of the fastest CME’s.
171Å (17.1nm)
195Å (19.5nm)
284Å (28.4nm)
304Å (30.4nm)
Tpeak: 1million K
Tpeak: 1.5million K
Tpeak: 2million K
Tpeak: 60 000 – 80 000 K
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LASCO images
Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (or LASCO) is able to take images of the solar corona by blocking the light coming directly from the Sun with an occulter disk, creating an artificial eclipse within the instrument itself. The position of the solar disk is indicated in the images by the white circle. The shadow crossing from the lower left (or the upper right) corner to the center of the image is the support for the occulter disk. The C1 coronagraph is now defunct and its latest raw image is available HERE.
C2 images show the inner solar corona up to 8.4 million kilometers away from the Sun.
C3 images have a larger field of view. They encompass 32 diameters of the Sun. The diameter of the images is 45 million kilometers at the distance of the Sun, or half of the diameter of the orbit of Mercury.
Last 96hrs:
GIF: Normal res. (512p/70MB) / Low res. (256p/20MB)
VIDEO: High res. (720p/5MB)
Last 96hrs:
GIF: Normal res. (512p/70MB) / Low res. (256p/20MB)
VIDEO: High res. (720p/5MB)
LASCO composite images
C2+C3
C2+C3 rdiff
Current schedule and status (may not be up-to-date)
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MDI images
The MDI program was terminated on 12 April 2011 and has been superseded by SDO/HMI.
Courtesy of ESA/NASA/NRL (SOHO/LASCO)