Hinode
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Hinode (ひので, Sunrise in Japanese), formerly known as Solar-B, is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Solar mission with United States and United Kingdom collaboration. It is the follow-up to the Yohkoh ("Solar-A") mission and it was launched on the final flight of the M-V rocket from Uchinoura Space Center, Japan on September 22, 2006 at 21:36 GMT (September 23, 06:36 JST). Initial orbit was perigee height 280 km, apogee height 686 km, inclination 98.3 degrees. Then the satellite maneuvered to the quasi-circular sun-synchronous orbit over the day/night terminator, which allows near-continuous observation of the Sun. On October 28, the probe's instruments captured their first images.
[edit] Instruments
Hinode carries three main instruments to study the Sun:
- SOT (Solar Optical Telescope): a 0.5-meter visible-light telescope
- XRT (X-ray Telescope): a Wolter telescope design that uses grazing incidence optics to image the solar corona's hottest components
- EIS (Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph) to try to identify the processes involved in coronal heating.
The SOT feeds both a spectropolarimeter and a pair of filtergraphs that can be used as a vector magnetograph. The SOT spatial resolution is expected to be 0.2 arc seconds, a factor-of-5 improvement over current space-based telescopes (the MDI on SOHO).
[edit] External links
- JAXA overview of mission
- Mission overview Quicktime Windows Media, preparation for launch Quicktime Windows Media, launch Quicktime Windows Media, press conference Quicktime Window Media (in Japanese)
- Solar-B project page of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
- Solar-B project page of Mullard Space Science Laboratory
- Solar-B project page of PPARC
- Solar-B project page of NASA MSFC
- Solar-B brochure
- Amos, Jonathan. "Probe to study mighty explosions", BBC News, 2006-09-09. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
| Sun Spacecraft Missions | |
|---|---|
| Orbiters: Pioneer 6, 7, 8 and 9 | Helios probes | Ulysses probe | Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) | Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager | Hinode | STEREO | TRACE | ACE | |
| Sample return: Genesis | |
| Future: Solar Dynamics Observatory | Solar Orbiter | |
| Cancelled: Pioneer H | |
| (Bold: Active missions) | |
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| Earth Observation Satellites: Daichi | Akebono | In cooperation with NASA: Aqua | Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission | GEOTAIL | Under Development: GOSAT | Global Precipitation Mesurement | ||
| Communication, Positioning and Engineering Test Satellites: ETS-VIII | Kirari | Kodama | REIMEI | EGS | Micro Lab Sat 1 | Under Development: WWINDS | Quasi-Zenith Satellites System | Sohla-1,Sohla-2 | ||
| Astronomical Observation Satellites: Akari | Suzaku | Hinode | REIMEI | Under Development: ASTRO-G | ||
| Lunar and Planetary Exploration Satellites: Hayabusa | Under Development: SELENE | PLANET-C | BepiColombo (cooperation with ESA) | Cancelled : LUNAR-A | ||
| Human Space Exploration : ISS (cooperation) | H-II Transfer Vehicle | ||
| Completed Missions: YOHKOH | ASCA | HALCA | NOZOMI |
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