The Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument is a set of three coronagraphs on the SOHO spacecraft. LASCO images the solar corona from 1.1 to 32 solar radii, blocking light from the solar disk to study faint coronal emission. It was built by an international consortium including the Naval Research Laboratory and the Max-Planck-Institute for Aeronomy.
Use Cases
- Analyze coronal heating mechanisms based on imagery of the faint emission region around the sun.
- Study solar wind acceleration patterns based on observations from 1.1 to 32 solar radii.
- Investigate causes and roles of coronal transients based on time-series imagery of large-scale coronal patterns.
Strengths
- Imaging range covers a wide field from 1.1 to 32 solar radii.
- Data is publicly available from multiple international mirror archives.
- Instrument was built by an international consortium of four institutions.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA/ESA SOHO spacecraft, LASCO instrument.
- Collection Method
- Data collected by coronagraph telescopes designed to block solar disk light.