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
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on-board JAXA’s Hinode (a solar mission with ESA participation), took the first test images on 25 October 2006. SOT is the first large optical telescope flown in space dedicated to observing the Sun.
The image shows in detail solar granulation (convection cells), and bright points between granules. The bright points represent locations of magnetic field concentration.
This image was taken with SOT’s broadband filter, and confirmed that the instrument is achieving very high spatial resolution of 0.2 arcseconds, a primary objective of the instrument. The test also confirmed We also have determined that the spectropolarimeter, SOT’s primary instrument for detailed measurements of the solar magnetic field, is exceeding its expected levels of performance.