The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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See the bright twisted clouds of hot gas, revealing storminess, and the dark, calm regions called coronal holes. These SOHO images, obtained in near-real time, with invisible ultraviolet light, give the scientists their routine weather maps of the Sun. Occasionally a solar flare appears, as a small, intensely bright flash. SOHO images come in a range of colours - the different colours denote various ultraviolet wavelengths, each emanating from gas at a particular temperature - orange, 80 000 degrees, blue 1 000 000 degrees, green 1 500 000 degrees and brown 2 500 000 degrees.
This particular image is taken with SOHO's Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT), 18 March 2002 (full-field He II 304 Å)