NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

First formal Solar Image from the Solar X-Ray Imager. Credit: NOAA/NASA
GOES- 14, formerly GOES-O, has achieved another significant milestone with the release of the first formal Solar Image from the Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI). The engineering and operations team has finished its initial instrument calibration and alignments and produced the image of the sun on August 13, 2009 at approximately 10:05 EDT. The SXI instrument is built by Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California. The instrument and the spacecraft continue to operate normally as NASA continues the post launch testing.

The SXI is essentially a soft X-ray telescope that is used to monitor solar conditions and activity. Every minute the SXI captures an image of the sun's atmosphere in X-rays, providing space weather forecasters with the necessary information in order to determine when to issue forecasts and alerts of conditions that may harm space and ground systems.

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For more information about GOES-O, visit: www.nasa.gov/goes-o

Andre Dress
Goddard Space Flight Center

Related Links:

> GOES POES project web site