China Launches First Solar Observatory ASO-S - Here's Astroguyz on China's new Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory, launched this past weekend:
The 900 million yuan mission was a long time coming, tracing its roots all the way back to the 1976 ASTRON-1 concept. The idea got more traction in 2011, and was formalized in 2017 under the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Strategic Priority Research Program of Space Science, which is analogous to NASA’s Decadal Survey.A key goal for ASO-S will be to chronicle and understand the relationship between the Sun’s magnetic field, and the often energetic emissions it produces.
should provide lots of opportunities to see an abundance of solar flares. ASO-S is also unique in that it will see the poorly understood ‘middle corona’ region along the entirety of the UV ultraviolet spectrum.Observations provided by ASO-S will also complement ESA’s Solar Orbiter and NASA’s Parker Solar Orbiter. These contrasting perspectives could provide stereoscopic views of flares from heliocentric versus geocentric perspectives.
To accomplish this, ASO-S carries a trio of instruments: a Sun-blocking coronagraph which will study the corona in the ultraviolet to visible range, a magnetograph to cover the Sun’s magnetic field, and an X-ray imager for studying high energy bursts in powerful solar flares. These instruments will combine to provide simultaneous observations during solar events.
Next up, ASO-S will undergo a 3-6 months of commissioning phase on-orbit. Watch for the mission to begin providing images of the Sun“After the commission phase is finished, all the data and software will be opened to the community,” says Gan.
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