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SO

Space probes·ESA / NASA

SOHO

ActiveLaunched in 1995·L1 — 1.5M km

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory: has monitored the Sun 24/7 since 1995 and discovered more than 5,000 comets.

Main objectives

Continuously monitor solar activity and the solar wind (L1).
Forecast geomagnetic storms to protect infrastructure.
Detect sungrazing comets (SOHO program).

Did you know?

The most prolific "comet hunter" in history: > 5,000 comets discovered.

Timeline

Dec 02, 1995

Launch

Atlas IIAS from Cape Canaveral.

May 01, 1996

First L1 station

Insertion around the L1 Lagrange point.

Instruments

[05]

EIT

Extreme-ultraviolet imaging telescope of the full solar disk

LASCO

Large-angle coronagraph to image the solar corona from 1.1 to 30 solar radii

MDI

Michelson Doppler Imager measuring photospheric velocities and magnetic fields

GOLF

Measures low-frequency global oscillations to probe the solar core

CELIAS

In-situ analysis of solar wind composition and energy

Specifications

Mass1,850 kg

PositionL1 (1.5M km from Earth)

Instruments12

Discoveries

[06]

Official sources