Skylab 3 Ultraviolet View of a Solar Prominence

Author

Preview

Title - Alternative

Apollo Telescope Mount Image of a Solar Prominence

Keywords

Aeronautics, Apollo Telescope, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA, Skylab 3

Photo Description

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, Ala. The Harvard College instrument on the Apollo Telescope Mount makes solar observations in the extreme ultraviolet region of the spectrum from 300-1350Å using photoelectric image recording. This is a photographic image reconstructed from the data transmitted to the ground in digital form early in the SL-3 mission and reconstructed by computational facilities at the Johnson Space Center, Houston. The picture shows a particularly large and well-structured cloud of cool gas (10,000° K) trapped in the surrounding solar corona (2,000,000° K) and insulated from it by the solar magnetic fields. The prominence extends some 170,000 km (105,000 miles) into the corona from the surface on the southwest limb of the Sun. The picture is taken in the light of the strongest line of atomic hydrogen (Hydrogen alpha: 1216 Å). Simultaneous measurements in other wavelengths by the six other detectors in the Harvard instrument will permit a detailed analysis to be carried out in order to learn more about the characteristics of these interesting solar features. Dr. E. M. Reeves of Harvard is the principal investigator and the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center is the experiment integrator and builder of the ATM.

Publication Date

11-9-1973

Format

image/jpeg

Number of Images

2

Side of Image

Front of Image

Publisher

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Original Size

8" x 10"

Identifier

DP0057714-0024a

NASA Photo Number

73P-640; 0-45953

Photo Credit

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Location

John C. Hitt Library

Department

Special Collections & University Archives

Collection

Official NASA Photographs, Vol. 3, October 2, 1973 - February 14, 1974