The National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has revealed the first images captured by the new Compact Choronograph (CCOR-1)an advanced solar telescope aboard the GOES-19 satellite.
This device, which came into operation on September 19, 2024marks a milestone as the world’s first operational space coronagraph and promises to improve weather forecasting. space weather.
CCOR-1 is designed to continuously monitor the solar corona, the outermost layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. Sun.
Its main objective is detect ejections of coronal mass (CME), enormous plasma ejections and magnetic fields that can generate geomagnetic storms when they reach Earth. These, in turn, can impact navigation systems such as GPS/GNSSsatellites, electrical networks and aeronautical communications.
Furthermore, the geomagnetic storms are responsible for the auroras that illuminate the skies in the polar regions.
shiny streamers
Every 15 minutes, CCOR-1 captures a new image of the corona, using a concealment disc to block the glare of the Sun and highlight the dim light of the corona.
In its first video, a CME was observed emerging from the east side of the star, along with bright streamers showing the solar plasma journey towards space.
According to NOAA, CCOR-1 is only the first in a series of instruments that will be deployed both in the Sun-Earth line like around the star. These devices are part of the programs Space Weather Follow-On and Space Weather Next from NOAA, which seek to monitor space weather continuously and accurately.
