The Solar Orbiter

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 22nd June 2023 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Hybrid

Solar Orbiter's Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument is a remote-sensing imaging spectrometer designed to study the solar atmosphere, also known as the corona. SPICE measures the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrum emitted by the Sun's corona, which provides valuable information about the temperature, density, and composition of the solar atmosphere. The SPICE instrument consists of a telescope that collects light from the corona and directs it onto a grating, which separates the light into its different wavelengths. The dispersed light is then focused onto a detector, where it is recorded and transmitted back to Earth. SPICE is one of 10 scientific instruments aboard the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft, which was launched in February 2020. The spacecraft is currently in an elliptical orbit around the Sun that takes it as close as 42 million kilometers (26 million miles) to the Sun's surface, allowing it to study the solar atmosphere in unprecedented detail. The data collected by SPICE and the other instruments aboard Solar Orbiter will help scientists better understand the mechanisms that drive the Sun's activity and how it affects Earth and the space environment around it.

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Speaker: Dr. Andrzej Fludra

Andrzej Fludra works at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Dr. Andrzej Fludra is part of the team behind Solar Orbiter's Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument.