National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Marshall Space Flight Center
Hinode (Solar-B)
News Archive - 2011
Operational announcement: Regarding the MDP bit-error of 2011-December-7: The MCU reset related to the MDP 2-bit error recovery was successfully performed. XRT can resume normal observations on Saturday evening (JST).
Operational announcement: A bit error has been detected in the MDP (Main Data Processor of the spacecraft). This happens occasionally, and the recovery is routine. However, there won't be any observations during the Thursday timeline period. Observations are expected to resume on Saturday evening (JST).
XPOW: The Partial Solar Eclipse of 2011/11/25
EIS Nugget: EIS observations of an X-class flare
EIS Nugget: Sunspot light-bridges - a bridge from the photosphere to the corona?
2011 Flare catching statistics: Kathy Reeves has compiled some statistics on XRT's success rate on catching large (X- and M-class) flares
in calendar year 2011, so far. The presentation will be made to the Hinode Science Working Group Meeting on Oct. 10. Here are a few:
58%: Percentage of large flares observed by XRT.
16%: Percentage of large flares missed because instruments watching a different target on the Sun.
9%: Percentage of large flares missed because no observations planned at the time.
58%: Percentage of flare triggers that caught pre-flare data when XRT was pointing at the right target. (Most common reason for missing this is
when multiple flare triggers in a row lock out the pre-flare buffer.)
EIS Nugget: Five years of EIS observations
Education / Public Outreach: XRT E&PO DVD now available free upon request:
The Hinode/XRT Team has put together a DVD product called The XRT Education & Public Outreach DVD: Space Science Careers: Building Hinode XRT,
A Space X-ray Telescope. This package is available free upon request.
Product description
Product order form
From the product description:
"Space Science Careers: Building Hinode XRT, A Space X-Ray Telescope is a resource for high school guidance counselors and others who provide career
awareness information to high school students. The goal of Space Science Careers is to introduce students particularly those who might be interested
in technical careers to the diversity of career opportunities at NASA and in the space industry..."
"Space Science Careers embeds career awareness in video clips that document the construction of an X-ray telescope... that was launched into Earth
orbit on the Hinode satellite on September 23, 2006. The resource provides students with a unique window into the workplace and an unscripted view of
workers collaborating and solving problems as they attend to their specialties."
EIS Nugget: NLFFF extrapolation of an emerging active region
Education / Public Outreach: XRT Team Member Kentaro Yaji-san sends us this news:
Dear all
This is Kentaro Yaji.
Thank you for everybody efforts for HOP173 observations.
This highly encouraged the high school students.
The following is the homepage for HOP173 EPO campaign observation
Sorry in Japanese.
http://www.rikkyo.ne.jp/web/yaji/hinode/hop173/
The title of this page represents "Let's observe the sun with Hinode!"
I don't sufficiently update the images taken by high school students.
But there is a list of high school in the last part of the homepage.
If you click the high school name, you might be see some solar images.
In the following, the observation results of last year are previewed.
http://www.rikkyo.ne.jp/web/yaji/hinode/hop173/hop173_preview.html
Regards,
Thank you.
------------------------
Rikkyo University
Kentaro Yaji
XRT Operational announcement: Filter wheel 1 (FW1) has been returned to automatic control mode. During spacecraft eclipse season, FW1 is put into a manual control mode to mitigate against possible lock-ups. Now that eclipse season has ended, FW1 has been returned to a mode where all of its filter positions can be freely used by the observing tables.
SOT POD:
H-alpha limb prominence: This image of a solar prominence was taken in the light of H alpha (the strongest spectral line of ionized hydrogen) by the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT). The prominence was visible off the southwestern limb of the Sun on June 25, 2011 and this image was taken at 10:49:20 Universal Time.
Prominence material is cooler than the surface, or photosphere, of the Sun. When these structures are viewed against the surface of the Sun, they appear as long, dark, sinewy features. Viewing them with the high resolution of SOT against the backdrop of space, allows us to see thin, horizontal filamentary structures connecting vertical concentrations within the electrically charged prominence material, looking like rungs on a ladder. Image scale is in arc seconds.
Image courtesy of Tom Berger.
XRT Data Gap: XRT temporarily stopped taking data around 11:17 UT on July 28. It has been determined that there was an error made in a table upload. Apart from missing a few days' worth of data, there have been no negative consequences of this error, and there was never any risk. Observations resumed around 10:38 UT on August 4.
EIS Nugget: Evidence of a Connection Between Active Region Outflows and the Solar Wind
XRT Job Announcement: The Solar and Stellar X-ray Group at SAO is hiring for an Astrophysicist position. Details on the job, qualifications and the application process can be found here: SAO Job#11-46. The application deadline is being extended to July 31.
Conference Announcement: The abstract deadline for the Hinode-5 Science Conference has been extended to August 15.
EIS Nugget: Temporal evolution of microflares in bright points
EIS Nugget: Contamination levels of EIS (as measured by QCM and LED flat-field intensity levels)
Conference Announcement: Hinode-5 (The Fifth Hinode Science Conference) will be held in Cambridge, MA, October 10-15. The registration for the Hinode 5 meeting is now open: http://hinode5.cfa.harvard.edu/Registration/. July 1, 2011 is the deadline for early registration, abstract submission, and housing. Mark your calendars! More information at the Hinode 5 website: http://hinode5.cfa.harvard.edu/.
XRT Job Announcement: The Solar and Stellar X-ray Group at SAO is hiring for a Research Assistant position. Details on the job, qualifications and the application process can be found here: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hr/postings/11-40.html.
EIS Nugget: Hinode observations and 3D magnetic structure of an X-ray bright point
XRT Big News: Next week, Hinode-XRT operations will resume regular two-day timelines.
EIS News: NRL Marks Achievements of Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer
EIS Nugget: Large X-ray jet simultaneously observed by SUMER, EIS, XRT, and EUVI Ahead and Behind
Big News: Due to interruptions in power at JAXA/ISAS and in Tokyo, we have had to simplify the Hinode-XRT operations for the short-term future. Single timelines will encompass several days of operations. As a consequence, Hinode-XRT planners will not be able to respond to rapidly changing conditions on the Sun during this period. However, on-board response functions (such as automatic exposure control and flare response tables) continue to operate nominally, and there is no impact to the safety of the instrument. We will keep you informed on this website as the operations conditions change.
Major Update: March 11 Letter from Hinode-XRT PI to Japanese Colleagues regarding earthquake and tsunami.
Dear Japanese Colleagues,
We are shocked and horrified at the damage that has been shown from the earthquake and tsunami. I am sure that many members of the Japanese solar
community have been affected either directly or indirectly by the disaster. If there are actions that the US community can take to ease the burden
during the coming weeks, please let us know. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely,
Ed DeLuca
[Hinode-XRT PI]
[March 11, 2011]
EIS Nugget: Full Sun monochromatic images
XRT News: "Hinode Looks into a Hole on the Sun": An XRT image (Ti/poly) from Feb.1 is featured on the NASA/Missions/HINODE page this week. (The feature page is here.) UPDATE 2011-Feb-14: The feature is also being carried by Fox News now: "Scientists Discover Giant Holes in the Sun".
EIS Nugget: Determining the source of a magnetic cloud using a velocity difference method
EIS News: EIS on Stargazing Live program (BBC 2) and BBC website
EIS News: BBC: Jets implicated in solar riddle
XRT News: XRT observed an annular eclipse on January 4, at approximately 9:16 UT. An image and a movie of the eclipse can be found on the XPOW page.
EIS Nugget: Sensitivity performance of the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on Hinode
- NASA Contact: Adam Kobelski
- Page Last Updated: Tuesday, 04 April 2017