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Heliophysics Science Division
Operational

HINODE

Hinode, formerly known as Solar-B, is a satellite equipped with three advanced solar telescopes to explore the magnetic fields of the sun. The spacecraft's solar optical telescope (SOT), X-ray telescope, and EUV imaging spectrometer were designed to study the heating mechanism and dynamics of the extended solar atmosphere (corona). The observations will improve understanding of the mechanisms that power the corona and drive solar eruptions. Hinode was launched in 2006.

Launch Date

September 2006

Class

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Websites


Instrument

The Hinode mission is a follow-on to the highly successful Japan/US/UK Yohkoh (Solar-A) satellite which operated between 1991 and 2001. Led by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Space Science Research Division (formerly the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)), Hinode consists of a coordinated set of optical, EUV, and X-ray instruments that will investigate the interaction between the Sun's magnetic field and its corona. The result will be an improved understanding of the mechanisms that power the solar atmosphere and drive solar eruptions. This information will tell us much about how the Sun generates magnetic disturbances and high-energy particle storms that propagate from the Sun to the Earth and beyond; in this sense, Hinode will help us predict "space weather."

Related Publications

2025. "Solar Orbiter’s 2024 Major Flare Campaigns: An Overview.", Solar Physics, 300 (11): 152 [10.1007/s11207-025-02561-6] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "The Temperature and Density of a Solar Flare Kernel Measured from Extreme-ultraviolet Lines of O iv.", The Astrophysical Journal, 966 (1): 102 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad37fc] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "A multiple spacecraft detection of the 2 April 2022 M-class flare and filament eruption during the first close Solar Orbiter perihelion.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 677 A130 [10.1051/0004-6361/202346321] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Nonlinear Fast Magnetosonic Waves in Solar Prominence Pillars.", Astrophysical Journal, 944 210 [10.3847/1538-4357/acb13b] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Plasmoids, Flows, and Jets during Magnetic Reconnection in a Failed Solar Eruption.", Astrophysical Journal, 943 156 [10.3847/1538-4357/acaea4] [Journal Article/Letter]