Hinode (Solar-B) X-Ray Telescope’s first-light

The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) on-board JAXA’s Hinode (a solar mission with ESA participation), saw first light on 23 October 2006. The XRT instrument is designed to provide images of the solar corona at different temperatures.

This false colour image shows X-ray bright spots, seen as magnetic field concentrations for the first time. A clean version of the Solar disk shown in this image is available in colour and black and white following these links: XRT coloured Sun, XRT black and white Sun

The first images confirmed that the XRT telescope is meeting its expected level of performance, with spatial resolution reaching nearly 1 arcsecond.