Michael L. Kaiser

STEREO Project Scientist

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

STEREO

May 2, 2008

STEREO at 1.25 years

STEREO-B (BEHIND) OBSERVATORY

Deployed SWAVES Electric Field Antenna

(3 places)

DeployedIMPACT Boom

IMPACTSolar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA)

IMPACTSuprathermal Electron Detector

(STE)

IMPACTMagnetometer

(MAG)

SECCHI Heliospheric Imager

(HI)

SECCHISun-Centered ImagingPackage (SCIP) Assy

(COR-1, COR-2, EUVI, GT)

PLASTIC Instrument

IMPACT SEP

1.1m X 2.0 m X 1.2 m

610 kg

≥ 600 W

STEREO Orbits

Sun SunEarth

Ahead @ +22/year

Behind @ -22/year

Heliocentric Inertial Coordinates(Ecliptic Plane Projection)

Geocentric Solar Ecliptic CoordinatesFixed Earth-Sun Line

(Ecliptic Plane Projection)

Ahead

BehindEarth

1 yr.

2 yr.

3 yr.4 yr.

1yr.

2yr.

3 yr.4 yr.

STEREO Space Weather Data Products

Highest resolution data – available 24-48 hrsSECCHI: 2048 X 2048 imagesIMPACT: fluxes (10s sec), moments (few sec) and B (<1 sec)PLASTIC: fluxes and moments 1 min resolutionSWAVES: intensities from all frequencies (~367) every 15 sec

Other data products – available TBDKey parametersCatalogs and event tablesMovies

Research

Beacon (space weather) data – available ‘immediately’SECCHI: ~7 256 X 256 images every hour SECCHI: ~7 256 X 256 images every hour IMPACT: 1 min aves of B, 1 min aves solar wind moments and selected SEP fluxesIMPACT: 1 min aves of B, 1 min aves solar wind moments and selected SEP fluxesPLASTIC: 1 minute resolution selected moments and fluxesPLASTIC: 1 minute resolution selected moments and fluxesSWAVES: 1 minute summaries of alternate frequencies (0.1-16 MHz)SWAVES: 1 minute summaries of alternate frequencies (0.1-16 MHz)

‘Operational’

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/beacon/

SECCHI

IMPACT/PLASTIC

IMPACT SEP

Beacon Status• Receive beacon telemetry from England, Japan,

and France on a regular basis – overall coverage 50-90%

– Toulouse station recently added

– Not certain about continued funding for station in England

– Wallops tracking is top priority—paperwork is main delay

– NOAA examining link margins for extended mission

• All SECCHI telescopes are now included in the beacon pages.

• SWAVES radio plots are now generated in realtime.

March 25, 2008 – Our first big success

Eruption in the Low Corona• A-B separation = 28 deg• Cadence = 10 min• Mild wavelet enhancement

Eruption in the Low Corona (Implications)

•Visibility of prominence top depends on projection

– Gap of several hours between A &B.– Height-time analyses of eruptive

prominences from single viewpoint are unreliable for CME studies!

•The existence of kinked structures is projection-depended

– “kinked” structure seen in B, not A– Footpoints of eruptive prominence seen in

B, not A– Shape, configuration of erupting structures

is very uncertain from single viewpoint.

Kinked structures

STEREO Actually ‘sees’ CIRs

90° 180°STEREO separation

STEREO into cycle 24

http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.govor

http://www.nasa.gov/stereo