SWAP
Encyclopedia
The "Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing" (SWAP) telescope is a compact EUV imager on board the PROBA2
mission that will observe the Sun in extreme ultraviolet (EUV).
SWAP will provide images of the solar corona at a temperature of roughly 1 million degrees. This instrument was built upon the heritage of the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT
) which monitors the solar corona since 1996.
SWAP will continue the systematic CME (coronal mass ejection
) watch program at an improved image cadence (typically 1 image every minute). With this higher cadence, SWAP will monitor events in the low solar corona that might be relevant for space weather. These events include EIT waves (global waves propagating across the solar disc from the CME eruption site), EUV dimming regions (transient coronal holes from where the CME has lifted off) and filament instabilities (a specific type of flickering during the rise of a filament). SWAP will also take advantage of offpointings provided by the agility featured of PROBA2
platform to follows coronal mass ejections.
SWAP was built at the Centre Spatial de Liege and will be operated from the PROBA-2 Science Center at the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
Proba-2
PROBA2 is the second satellite in the European Space Agency's series of PROBA low-cost satellites that are being used to validate new spacecraft technologies while also carrying scientific instruments. PROBA2 is a small satellite developed under an ESA General Support Technology Program contract...
mission that will observe the Sun in extreme ultraviolet (EUV).
SWAP will provide images of the solar corona at a temperature of roughly 1 million degrees. This instrument was built upon the heritage of the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT
Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope is an instrument on the SOHO spacecraft used to obtain high-resolution images of the solar corona in the ultraviolet range...
) which monitors the solar corona since 1996.
SWAP will continue the systematic CME (coronal mass ejection
Coronal mass ejection
A coronal mass ejection is a massive burst of solar wind, other light isotope plasma, and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space....
) watch program at an improved image cadence (typically 1 image every minute). With this higher cadence, SWAP will monitor events in the low solar corona that might be relevant for space weather. These events include EIT waves (global waves propagating across the solar disc from the CME eruption site), EUV dimming regions (transient coronal holes from where the CME has lifted off) and filament instabilities (a specific type of flickering during the rise of a filament). SWAP will also take advantage of offpointings provided by the agility featured of PROBA2
Proba-2
PROBA2 is the second satellite in the European Space Agency's series of PROBA low-cost satellites that are being used to validate new spacecraft technologies while also carrying scientific instruments. PROBA2 is a small satellite developed under an ESA General Support Technology Program contract...
platform to follows coronal mass ejections.
SWAP was built at the Centre Spatial de Liege and will be operated from the PROBA-2 Science Center at the Royal Observatory of Belgium.