home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- UVCS
-
- The purpose of the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) is to provide a detailed description of the extended
- solar corona that can be used to address a broad range of scientific questions regarding the nature of the solar corona
- and the generation of the solar wind. UVCS makes measurements of the solar corona between 1.3 and 12 solar radii
- from Sun's center with high spectral and spatial resolution. The instrument creates an artificial solar eclipse in ultraviolet
- light, blocking out the bright light from the solar disk and allowing observation of the less intense (by several orders of
- magnitude) light from the extended corona. The corona emits most of its ultraviolet intensity in discrete wavelength
- bands (spectral lines) produced by the ions of several different atomic elements. The strength of these lines and the
- variations of their intensities with wavelength contain valuable information about the microscopic and macroscopic
- behavior of the highly-ionized coronal plasma.
-