News archive

News archive

The SOHO-SWAN team has used the new Lyman-alpha method to monitor the activity of a giant sunspot duo on the Sun's far side. The duo was responsible for the solar storms in October.
Published: 19 November 2003
On 4th November at 1950 UT the Sun released the most intense solar flare ever witnessed at class X28
Published: 5 November 2003
SOHO Resumes Full Operation
Published: 16 July 2003
SOHO's antenna anomaly: things are much better than expected
Published: 3 July 2003
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft expects to experience a blackout in the transmission of its scientific data during the week of 22 June 2003.
Published: 24 June 2003
Initial concerns over HGA problem
Published: 20 June 2003
We have known for 40 years that space weather affects the Earth, which is buffeted by a 'wind' from the Sun, but only now are we learning more about its precise origins. Solving the mystery of the solar wind has been a prime task for ESA's SOHO spacecraft. Its latest findings, announced on 20 May 2003, may overturn previous ideas about the origin of the 'fast' solar wind, which occurs in most of the space around the Sun.
Published: 21 May 2003
During the morning of 7 May 2003, the planet Mercury will slip across the face of the Sun in a rare event, known as a transit. There are only about 12 celestial alignments like this every century and you cannot view them safely without special telescopic equipment. So, let the ESA/NASA solar watchdog, SOHO, do all the hard work for you...
Published: 1 May 2003
Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) is putting on a fine show for ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) space probe. As the comet swings closer to the Sun, it has got brighter. Now it is the brightest comet ever observed by SOHO's LASCO instrument.
Published: 18 February 2003
Only the most dedicated of sky watchers will have seen the latest comet, called C/2002 V1 (NEAT). It has hovered near the limits of naked-eye visibility in the evening sky since January 2003. However, you would need a pair of binoculars, pointed in exactly the right direction, to see anything. Log onto the Internet instead, and let the ESA/NASA space probe SOHO show you more about this comet than you would usually see.
Published: 11 February 2003
Our Sun has large features that move across its surface as it rotates. Scientists call them 'supergranules'. Thanks to data from the SOHO spacecraft, scientists believe they have found out why supergranules move faster than the Sun rotates. They do not move faster at all. The apparent rapid rotation is an illusion generated by a pattern of waves, like spectators doing the wave at a sporting event.
Published: 5 January 2003
On Monday 12 August 2002, about 16:05 UT, ESA's SOHO spacecraft spotted its 500th comet as the comet passed close to the Sun.It seems a little strange that SOHO, designed to examine the Sun, should turn out to be the most productive comet finder in the history of astronomy, and by a very wide margin. We interviewed ESA's project scientist for SOHO, Bernhard Fleck, about that.
Published: 15 August 2002
Looking into the interior of the Earth or the Sun is a bit similar to examining a baby in its mother's womb using an ultrasound scan. Light cannot penetrate the area, so we make pictures in these cases using sound waves, which human ears cannot hear. With SOHO, ESA has probed deeply into the Sun using the sound-waves principle, and with great success. The future missions, Solar Orbiter and Eddington, will look inside our Sun and other stars, respectively, in a similar way.
Published: 14 August 2002
On Tuesday 23 July 2002 space scientists recorded the largest of four powerful solar flares, all occurring in the space of just eight days.
Published: 26 July 2002
Huge loops of very hot gas rising above the Sun's surface vibrate with enormous energy at times of solar storms. This is the latest surprise from ESA's flotilla of spacecraft - SOHO, Ulysses and the four Cluster satellites - with which scientists are trying to make sense of how disturbances on the Sun affect the Earth.
Published: 13 June 2002
The SUMER instrument on the ESA-NASA SOHO spacecraft has measured amazing wind speeds during its observations of the Sun. It sets a new record in its examination of two loops of gas arching in the solar atmosphere, where NASA's TRACE satellite spotted bright blobs of gas. Shifts in the wavelength of ultraviolet light from highly ionized neon atoms, seen by SUMER, revealed steady wind speeds of up to 320 000 kilometres per hour. That's fast enough to cross the Atlantic Ocean in less than a minute.
Published: 16 May 2002
Guess when a comet will be spotted to win a SOLARMAX DVDESA's solar satellite, SOHO, has become the best comet spotter the world has ever known. When SOHO's latest solar images are posted on the Internet, astronomers and space enthusiasts alike are thrilled when they spot evidence of new comets that have never been seen before as they pass close to the Sun. Since SOHO's launch in 1995, 435 new comets have been discovered. And, in the very near future, the 500th new comet will be found.
Published: 10 May 2002
Between now and Saturday, 20 April, you can follow via the Internet the progress of the new-found Comet SOHO-422. Usually, comets seen by the SOHO spacecraft quickly burn up in the Sun's hot atmosphere. This one won't, so there is still time to monitor its progress.
Published: 17 April 2002
You could see it easily with your unaided eye (but don't try!) if only Comet Machholz 1 were not so very close to the Sun. This unusual comet, reputed to flare up a lot, is today sweltering only 18 million kilometres from the Sun. This is its closest approach on an orbit that brings it back to the solar vicinity every 63 months. The best and perhaps the only view of it at this time comes from the ESA-NASA sunwatching spacecraft SOHO.
Published: 7 January 2002
The New Year got off to a striking start for scientists at SOHO's operations centre who were treated to a dazzling display from the Sun on 4 January. Images of an unusually beautiful ejection of solar material were captured by several instruments on the ESA-NASA spacecraft.
Published: 6 January 2002
29-Mar-2024 13:04 UT

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