Total solar eclipse is rare, but just how rare is discussion really becoming after the European space agency debuted its first image today (June 16) from two new satellites operating as “Eclipse Machines.”
Currently, total solar eclipses occur 14 times every 18 years and 11 days anywhere on the globe. This averages every 16 months. According to NASA, they occur once every 366 years in certain locations.
The European Space Agency (ESA) ProBA-3 mission, launched on December 5, 2024 with a PSLV-XL rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India, does not require lucky geography or patience. This mission is the first to see two satellite orbits in “precision formation,” one acts like a moon that devours the sun in front of the moon, referring to the solar telescope to capture its elusive coronavirus.
You might like it
These first images from the mission’s first successful formation flying demonstration on May 23rd in the decade of making, offer a glimpse of what’s going forward.
The sun’s corona
The solar coronavirus, the atmosphere outside the sun, is a mystery. The surface, which is the solar sphere, is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius), but the COVID-19 level is 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (over 11 million degrees Celsius), which is about 200 times higher. Scientists need to know why and how this is because COVID is primarily where solar winds are produced.
“Apart from being a surprising thing to see, Corona is also a laboratory for the main source of plasma physics and space weather,” said Andrei Zhukov, chief investigator of the Aspiics Polarity and Imaging Investigation Association, a Belgium royal observer.
Capture excellence
Observation of the coronavirus is important for understanding phenomena such as solar winds and coronal mass emissions, which could destroy the Earth’s power and communications systems and produce spectacular displays of the aurora. However, images from the Proba-3 also help solar physicists to see the characteristics of the coronavirus. “Sometimes, relatively cold plasma clouds are observed near the sun, creating what we call prominent,” Zhukov said. Feeding is much colder than the 1 million-degree hot plasma around the coronavirus, but still at about 10,000 degrees Celsius. “We are extremely pleased to be able to capture one of such structures in one of the first aspiics images,” Zhukov said.
Coronagraph of the universe
But there’s a problem. The Sun Disc is 1 million times brighter than the Coronavirus, completely overwhelming the human eyes. Corona can only be seen during the total solar eclipse. “They are inconvenient, rare and last only a few minutes,” Zhukov said.
A coronagraph is a device connected to a telescope that blocks direct light from a star. Sometimes it’s a planet. In this case, it’s Corona. Unfortunately, the Earth’s atmosphere scatters that light. In short, they work much better in space. “The current coronagraph does not match the Proba-3, which looks at the solar corona to the edge of the surface of the sun,” says Jorge Amaya, ESA’s space weather modeling coordinator. “So far, this has only been possible during natural solar eclipses.”
First image of Proba-3
In March, Proba-3’s two spacecraft – the Coronagraph and Occulter satellites – lined up 500 feet (150 meters) apart with millimeter accuracy for several hours without ground intervention. Occulter managed to block the solar disk and cast a shadow over the aspiics, the coronagraph’s sensitive optical device that captures the coronavirus. “By forming one giant coronagraph in space, we were able to capture the inner corona with very low levels of stray light, as expected,” said Damien Galano, ProBA-3 mission manager. “I was absolutely excited to see the images, especially as I got them on my first attempt,” Zhukov said. “We’re still in the test run, so it’s just a teaser.”
How to create images for ProBA-3
The image itself was processed by scientists and engineers at the Aspiics Science Operations Center at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. Each complete image consists of three images – covering the area from the occult sun to the edge of the field of view. “The only difference between them is the exposure time, which determines how long the opening of the coronagraph is exposed to light. By combining the three images, you get a full view of the corona,” Zhukov said. “Our “artificial solar eclipse” is equivalent to images taken during a natural solar eclipse. The difference is that you can create a solar eclipse once in a 19.6 hour orbit. ”
ProbA-3 will create approximately 1,000 hours of images of the coronavirus over its two-year mission. Anyone can download the data. “We have an open data policy. Uncooperative data will be published immediately and everyone can adjust their own data,” Zhukov said.
Proba-3’s orbit
The solar-powered proba-3 satellite has an oval orbit with a 373 miles (600 km) of surroundings (nearest point) and apogee of 37,000 miles (60,000 km). They fly in formation only when the Earth’s gravity, its magnetic field, and atmospheric drag are at its weakest. This allows the satellite to attempt to fly the formation using minimal propellant. The Coronagraph satellite is located 492 feet (150 meters) behind the Ocarta satellite. It is located two orders of magnitude further than other space-based coronagraphs. The 4.4-foot (1.4-meter) Ocarta casts a 3.15-inch (8-centimeter) shadow on the coronagraph. Surprisingly, it’s all done autonomously, and Proba supports “project for onboard autonomy.”
“The accuracy achieved is extraordinary,” said Dietmar Pilz, director of ESA technology, engineering and quality. “It examines our years of technology development and places the ESA at the forefront of formation flight missions.”
First artificial solar eclipse
proba-3 is not unique. The 1975 Apollo Soyuz Test Project, a joint mission between the US and the Soviet Union, saw the first coronary observations using layer flights to allow the Apollo spacecraft to act as an improvised coronagraph and allow the Soyuz crew to photograph the solar coronavirus. “It was all done by hand. The image was taken through the window of a Soyuz spaceship,” Zhukov said. The outcome was disappointing, mainly because the thruster gas around the spacecraft was scattered with light.
In Proba-3, the concept becomes reality, allowing an artificial solar eclipse, revealing the inner solar corona without having to wait for the entire solar eclipse. Does that suppress Eclipse Chasers? It’s definitely not!
This article was originally published on Space.com.
Source link
