10.5065/d64j0cxb eng utf8 dataset MLSO Support mlso_data_requests@ucar.edu pointOfContact 2026-04-24T11:28:00.322914 ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata ISO 19115:2003(E) https://doi.org/10.5065/d64j0cxb Solar Maximum Mission Coronagraph-Polarimeter Coronal Images 1980 publication SMM C/P Team author NSF NCAR High Altitude Observatory publisher NCAR/HAO resourceProvider Hundhausen, Art principalInvestigator MacQueen, Robert principalInvestigator House, Lew principalInvestigator Nelson, Del collaborator Ross, Charles collaborator Csoeke-Poeckh, Adam contributor Stanger, Andrew custodian Burkepile, Joan custodian Burkepile, Joan contributor St.Cyr, Chris contributor Reynolds, Rose contributor Galloy, Michael custodian Hildner, Ernie contributor Sime, David contributor Munro, Richard contributor Illing, Rainer contributor H. Tepoel contributor Wagner, William contributor Sawyer, Constance contributor G.A. Dulk contributor R. Fisher contributor R.T. Hansen contributor R.A. Kopp contributor G.W. Pneuman contributor C.W. Querfeld contributor H.U. Schmidt contributor K.V. Sheridan contributor The Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Coronagraph / Polarimeter (C/P) was launched on the SMM spacecraft on February 14, 1980. It operated in low Earth orbit from March 2, 1980 to September 23, 1980. The spacecraft attitude control system failed in November 1980, resulting in a cessation of SMM C/P data until the spacecraft was repaired by astronauts on the Challenger space shuttle (STS-41C) in April 1984. SMM C/P resumed data acquisition on April 26, 1984 and operated until Nov 17, 1989 when its orbit decayed and it reentered Earth’s atmosphere on December 2, 1989. The orbital period of the SMM spacecraft was approximately 95 minutes with ~45 minutes of occultation. SMM C/P acquired images of the solar corona from 1.8 to 4.1 solar radii over a full 360 degree field-of-view and out to 6 solar radii over the lower latitude regions. SMM C/P recorded the total coronal brightness (F + K corona) and linear polarization using a variety of filters: blue filter: 448.1 nm (ctr.) ; width of filter = 32.5 nm green filter: 517.1 nm (ctr.) ; width of filter = 31.4 nm red filter: 620.0 nm (ctr.) ; width of filter = 43.6 nm wideband filter: 478.5 nm (ctr); width of filter = 67.3 nm halpha emission line; 656.4 nm (ctr); width of filter = 4.2 nm green line (FeXIV) : 530.3 nm (ctr); width of filter = 0.55 nm green continuum: 529.7 nm (ctr); width of filter = 0.55 nm The bulk of the data were acquired using the green filter and the halpha filter. SMM C/P images are 448 x 448 pixels with a pixel size is 6.4 arcsec with a spatial resolution of ~12 arcsec. Coronal images were acquired in sectors around the Sun (north, east, south, west, ne, nw, se, sw) so that 4 sector images were needed to construct a full 360 degree view of the corona. Images were acquired every ~90 seconds until late 1986 when a tape recorder failure resulted in a temporal resolution of 8 minutes. Images are available in FITS format and are fully calibrated intensity in units of 1.e-11 B/Bsun, where Bsun is the brightness of the solar disk. The stray light radiance noise level is ~5.e-10 B/Bsun. Data are also available with vignetting in the images to provide higher contrast for tracking coronal structures such as CMEs, however, these images should not be used to compute calibrated brightness, density or mass. MLSO Support mlso_data_requests@ucar.edu pointOfContact Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) Image theme Resource Type 2017-07-17 publication DataCite Metadata Working Group support@datacite.org https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/datacite-metadata originator Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Corona Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Coronal Holes Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Coronal Mass Ejections Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Solar Active Regions Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Solar Imagery Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Solar Prominences/Solar Filaments Earth science > Sun-Earth Interactions > Solar Activity > Solar Synoptic Maps Solar/Space Observing Instruments > Photon/Optical Detectors > Coronagraphs Space > Solar Region > Corona theme GCMD 2005-11-17 publication NASA Global Change Master Directory ross.bagwell@nasa.gov originator The user is granted the right to use Solar Maximum Mission C/P observations for non-commercial, non-profit research, or educational purposes only, without any fee or cost. The user is responsible to meet the Terms of Use and Copyright Issues furnished on the UCAR web site. Please credit all use of Mauna Loa data as: 'Courtesy NASA and the High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).' (See also https://www.ucar.edu/terms-of-use ) Access Constraints: Free access en 1980-03-02 1989-11-17