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Podcast: StarDate
Episode: SOHO
Description: [3, 2, 1, ignition, and liftoff of SOHO and the Atlas vehicle on an international mission of solar physics.]
Generally speaking, staring at the Sun non-stop for decades is a bad idea. But a spacecraft launched 30 years ago this week has done just that. It’s told us about the Sun’s interior, its surface, and its extended outer atmosphere. That’s helped scientists develop better forecasts of space weather – interactions between Sun and Earth that can have a big effect on our technology.
The craft is called SOHO – Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. It was launched into an orbit arou...