The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released the first imagery captured by the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) instrument onboard its newly-launched GOES-18 satellite.
SUVI is a telescope that monitors the sun in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range. The instrument observes and characterizes complex active regions of the sun, solar flares, and the eruptions of solar filaments which may give rise to coronal mass ejections.
On July 10, 2022, SUVI captured a coronal mass ejection (CME), which can be clearly seen in the 304 Å channel (see above image). CMEs are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona, which can eject billions of tons of coronal material and carry an embedded magnetic field (frozen in flux).
CMEs can cause geomagnetic storms, which can disrupt power utilities and communication and navigation systems on Earth. These storms can also cause radiation damage to orbiting satellites and the International Space Station (ISS).
The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (#SUVI) onboard @NOAA‘s newest satellite, #GOES18, became operational on June 24, 2022. Not long afterward, it observed a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on July 10, seen here on the bottom right of the imagery.Learn more: pic.twitter.com/9Z6vSbIkiL
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) July 19, 2022
NOAA’s GOES-T lifted off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on March 1, 2022. It is currently undergoing post-launch testing and checkout of its instruments and systems
The SUVI instrument onboard the spacecraft began observing the sun on June 24, 2022. As seen in the above image, SUVI observes the sun in six EUV channels.
