SWAP sees the Sun
The SWAP instrument on board ESA's Proba-2 sees the Sun, 30 July
2013, at 9:28:57.258 CEST. SWAP (Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System
detector and Image Processing) is a small telescope that captures the
solar corona at wavelengths corresponding to temperatures of about a
million degrees (around 17.1 nanometers). Credits: ESA/SWAP PROBA2 science centre. Access the image
ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 satellite has been in orbit since November
2009, demonstrating a range of technologies and serving as a platform
for scientific observations.
The 130 kg satellite carries two solar monitors. One is SWAP (Sun
Watcher using Active Pixel System detector and Image Processing), a
small telescope that captures the solar corona at wavelengths
corresponding to temperatures of about a million degrees. The image
above shows the latest SWAP image, from 30 July.
SWAP images are used to study the origin of solar phenomena, including
solar flares and coronal mass ejections – massive eruptions of material
into interplanetary space. Both are important sources of space weather,
which profoundly affects the environmental conditions in Earth’s
magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere.
Space weather is not only of academic interest. In Europe’s economy
today, numerous sectors are potentially affected by space weather,
ranging from space-based telecommunications, broadcasting, weather
services and navigation through to power distribution and terrestrial
communications, especially at northern latitudes.
The satellite has been managed since 1 July by ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, complementing support provided by ESA’s Science directorate for the Proba-2 Science Centre at the Royal Observatory Belgium.
Proba-2 data are used directly by the SSA Space Weather Coordination Centre
at SpacePole, Brussels, to generate space weather products and services
to a growing number of customers such as satellite operators, telecom
and navigation users, and government agencies and research institutes.
Source: ESA
