Physical Properties of our Sun

satellite imagery of Earth

The first mission we will be taking a look at is the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, otherwise known as SOHO. SOHO is an international project between the ESA and NASA, hoping to find more about the Sun's deep core, to the outer corona, and solar wind. SOHO was launched on Dec. 2nd, 1995, and was built by an industry team in Europe lead by ESA. SOHO has 12 instruments on board, and conducts regular operations and data analysis. Large radio dishes around the world help collect this data, and the control base for the mission is at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. 

The next mission we will be looking at is the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). STEREO is NASA's third mission in the Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). The mission was launched in 2006, and provided us with 3D pictures of the structure of coronal mass ejections, as well as the violent eruptions of matter from the sun that can cause a disruption between satellites and power grids. In addition, STEREO helps us provide accurate alerts for the arrival times of Earth directed solar ejections. 

Moving along, we find ourselves at the Advanced Composition Explorer mission, otherwise known as ACE. ACE worked to observes particles of solar, interplanetary, interstellar, and galactic origins, spanning from solar wind ions to galactic cosmic ray nuclei in terms of energy range. Launched on August 25th, 1997, ACE was able to provide a near-real-time solar wind collection of information over a short period of time, reporting space weather and information regarding geomagnetic storms which can disrupt communications on earth and present hazards to traveling astronauts. 

Overall, these missions have helped us on Earth tremendously in collecting information and data about our solar system in order to gain a better idea of the intricacies behind the space we live in. 

Works Cited

"Missions - ACE - NASA Science." Missions - ACE - NASA Science. NASA, n.d. Web. 07 June 2014. <http://science.nasa.gov/missions/ace/>.

"SOHO-About." SOHO-About. NASA, n.d. Web. 07 June 2014. <http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/about/about.html>.

"STEREO." NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 07 June 2014. <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/#.U5Hof_ldWSA>.