TRACE

Infobox Space telescope
name = Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE)


caption = Artist's illustration of TRACE in orbit
organization = NASA
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launch_date = 2 April, 1998
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wavelength = white light (170 to 1000 nm) nowrap|UV (~121.6/155/~160/~170 nm) EUV (17.1/19.5/28.4 nm)
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style = Cassegrain reflector
diameter = 30 cm
area =
focal_length = 8.66 m
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website = http://trace.lmsal.com/

TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer) is a NASA space telescope designed to investigate the connections between fine-scale magnetic fields and the associated plasma structures on the Sun by providing high resolution images and observation of the solar photosphere and transition region to the corona. A main focus of the TRACE instrument is the fine structure of coronal loops low in the solar atmosphere.

The satellite was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Its telecope was constructed by a consortium lead by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center. TRACE was launched in April 1998 on a Pegasus rocket, has a 30 cm aperture and 1024 x 1024 CCD detector giving an 8.5 arc minute field of view. The telescope is designed to take correlated images in a range of wavelengths from visible light, through the Lyman alpha line to far ultraviolet. The different wavelength passbands correspond to plasma emission temperatures from 4,000 to 4,000,000 K.

[
sunspot taken by TRACE]

TRACE is a SMEX or Small Explorer mission.

External links

* [http://trace.lmsal.com/ Official TRACE website]
* [http://trace.lmsal.com/POD/TRACEpodoverview.html Images taken by TRACE]
* [http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=TRACE Transition Region and Coronal Explorer Mission Profile] by [http://solarsystem.nasa.gov NASA's Solar System Exploration]