2016
Ref: CTALK-2017-0011

Coronal EUV imagers: a sunny view thanks to PRODEX

Berghmans, David


Invited talk presented at PRODEX 30 years, ESTEC (Noordwijk, NL) on 2016-09-06

Abstract: The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) was one of the first space telescopes supported by PRODEX. The solar images of EIT can be traced back in thousands of scientific publications, but equally in magazines, newspapers, movies and even music video clips. EIT has been an instrument of scientific breakthrough, launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission, one of the most successful space science missions ever. Many epic stories surround the building of EIT but thanks to PRODEX support, the instrument made it into space in 1995. When I first saw an EIT image in 1997, the instrument was already near the end of its nominal 2-year mission duration. Now, two solar cycles later, EIT images still come streaming down out of space every day. Together with data from its sister instrument LASCO onboard SOHO, EIT images give rise to the field of "space weather”, the constant monitoring and forecasting of the weather on the Sun and in space, and the influence it has on the Earth environment and its technology. EIT was the forefather of a yet expanding family of coronal EUV imagers and the PRODEX nursery supported among others also SWAP on the microsatellite PROBA2 and is supporting, as we speak, the finalization of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imagers (EUI) to be launched onboard Solar Orbiter in 2018. EUI will take the highest resolution movies ever of the solar corona and transition region. This talk is dedicated in memory of Dr. Jean-Pierre Delaboudinniere, Principal Investigator of EIT and a source of inspiration for my generation, who died recently.

Links: link
Funding: PRODEX/PRODEX/PRODEX


The record appears in these collections:
Conference Contributions & Seminars > Conference Talks > Invited Talks
Royal Observatory of Belgium > Solar Physics & Space Weather (SIDC)
Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence



 Record created 2017-01-12, last modified 2017-01-12


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