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Hinode's array of advanced optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray instruments allows us to
study solar structures and processes on very small scales and across a broad range
of wavelengths. Hinode will measure magnetic fields and electric currents in
enough detail to understand the causes of eruptions in the solar
atmosphere,
and relate those eruptions to the intense heating of the corona and the
mechanisms that drive the solar wind.
Mission Objectives
Understanding the creation and destruction of the Sun's magnetic field
The processes that drive the solar magnetic
dynamo, the source of the Sun's magnetism, are hidden beneath the Sun's
surface. The processes that dissipate the Sun's magnetic field and
cause the 11-year solar cycle are not well understood either. By
observing magnetic fields emerging from within the Sun in high detail
and with great speed, Hinode will help answer these questions.
Understanding solar eruptions and solar wind
Magnetic energy emerging from within the Sun
heats the solar atmosphere, which in turn powers eruptions such as
flares, spicules, and coronal mass ejections. These eruptions
drive the solar wind--a flow of electrically charged particles (plasma)
and magnetic fields--outward from the Sun at a million miles per hour or
more, past the Earth and the other planets of the Solar System.
On Earth, disturbances in the solar wind can
shock our planet's magnetic field and cause "geomagnetic storms."
Such disturbances in Earth's magnetic field can energize spectacular
auroras, cause communications interference, and induce overloads in
electrical power grids and equipment.
Understand
variability of the Sun's luminosity
Small variations in the Sun's energy output can
change weather and climate on Earth. During the 17th
century, an abnormal period of low solar activity coincided with the
"Little Ice Age" in Northern Europe. Observations from space have
shown that the total energy output of the Sun changes with variations in
its magnetic cycle.
Hinode will continuously monitor the buildup of
sunspots as well as extremely small-scale magnetic structures as the Sun
heads toward the next peak in its activity cycle.
Understand
the generation of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation
Radiation pours from the Sun. Its
super-heated chromosphere and corona are powerful, highly variable
sources of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation. Solar flare explosions
produce intense bursts of gamma radiation and blasts of energetic
particles. All of this high-energy activity affects Earth's
ionosphere, ozone layer, and environment.
Hinode will study magnetic reconnection and wave
dissipation in the chromosphere and corona--processes that are believed
to convert solar magnetic energy into ultraviolet and X-ray radiation.
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