Abstract
The Sun Watcher with Active Pixels and Image Processing (SWAP) is an EUV solar telescope onboard ESA’s Project for Onboard Autonomy 2 (PROBA2) mission launched on 2 November 2009. SWAP has a spectral bandpass centered on 17.4 nm and provides images of the low solar corona over a 54×54 arcmin field-of-view with 3.2 arcsec pixels and an imaging cadence of about two minutes. SWAP is designed to monitor all space-weather-relevant events and features in the low solar corona. Given the limited resources of the PROBA2 microsatellite, the SWAP telescope is designed with various innovative technologies, including an off-axis optical design and a CMOS–APS detector. This article provides reference documentation for users of the SWAP image data.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This device is protected by US patent 6225670 and others.
References
Berghmans, D., Hochedez, J.F., Defise, J.M., Lecat, J.H., Nicula, B., Slemzin, V., et al.: 2006, SWAP onboard PROBA 2, a new EUV imager for solar monitoring. Adv. Space Res. 38, 1807 – 1811.
De Groof, A., Berghmans, D., Nicula, B., Halain, J.-P., Defise, J.-M., Thibert, T., Schühle, U.: 2008, CMOS–APS detectors for solar physics: lessons learned during the SWAP preflight calibration. Solar Phys. 249, 147 – 163. ADS: 2008SoPh..249..147G , doi: 10.1007/s11207-008-9175-y .
Defise, J.M., Halain, J.P., Berghmans, D., Denis, F., Mazy, E., Rochus, P., et al.: 2007, SWAP, a novel EUV telescope for space weather. In: Fineschi, S., Viereck, R.A. (eds.) Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation II, Proc. SPIE 6689, 66890S.
DeForest, C.E., Martens, P.C.H., Wills-Davey, M.J.: 2009, Solar coronal structure and stray light in TRACE. Astrophys. J. 690, 1264 – 1271. doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/690/2/1264 .
Delaboudinière, J.-P., Artzner, G.E., Brunaud, J., Gabriel, A.H., Hochedez, J.F., Millier, F., et al.: 1995, EIT: Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging telescope for the SOHO mission. Solar Phys. 162, 291 – 312. ADS: 1995SoPh..162..291D , doi: 10.1007/BF00733432 .
Dominique, M., Hochedez, J.-F., Schmutz, W., Dammasch, I.E., Shapiro, A.I., Kretzschmar, M., Zhukov, A.N., Gillotay, D., Stockman, Y., BenMoussa, A.: 2012, The LYRA instrument onboard PROBA2: description and in-flight performance. Solar Phys. submitted.
Freeland, S.L., Handy, B.N.: 1998, Data analysis with the SolarSoft system. Solar Phys. 182, 497 – 500. ADS: 1998SoPh..182..497F , doi: 10.1023/A:1005038224881 .
Halain, J.P., Berghmans, D., Seaton, D.B., De Groof, A., Mazzoli, A., Defise, J.-M., Rochus, P.L.: 2012, The SWAP EUV imaging telescope part II: In-flight performance and calibration. Solar Phys. submitted.
Hochedez, J.-F., Schmutz, W., Stockman, Y., Schühle, U., Benmoussa, A., Koller, S., et al.: 2006, LYRA, a solar UV radiometer on Proba2. Adv. Space Res. 37, 303 – 312.
Howard, R.A., Moses, J.D., Vourlidas, A., Newmark, J.S., Socker, D.G., Plunkett, S.P., Korendyke, C.M., Cook, J.W., Hurley, A., Davila, J.M., Thompson, W.T., St Cyr, O.C., Mentzell, E., Mehalick, K., Lemen, J.R., Wuelser, J.P., Duncan, D.W., Tarbell, T.D., Wolfson, C.J., Moore, A., Harrison, R.A., Waltham, N.R., Lang, J., Davis, C.J., Eyles, C.J., Mapson-Menard, H., Simnett, G.M., Halain, J.P., Defise, J.M., Mazy, E., Rochus, P., Mercier, R., Ravet, M.F., Delmotte, F., Auchere, F., Delaboudiniere, J.P., Bothmer, V., Deutsch, W., Wang, D., Rich, N., Cooper, S., Stephens, V., Maahs, G., Baugh, R., McMullin, D., Carter, T.: 2008, Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI). Space Sci. Rev. 136, 67 – 115. doi: 10.1007/s11214-008-9341-4 .
Lemen, J.R., Title, A.M., Akin, D.J., Boerner, P.F., Chou, C., Drake, J.F., Duncan, D.W., Edwards, C.G., Friedlaender, F.M., Heyman, G.F., Hurlburt, N.E., Katz, N.L., Kushner, G.D., Levay, M., Lindgren, R.W., Mathur, D.P., McFeaters, E.L., Mitchell, S., Rehse, R.A., Schrijver, C.J., Springer, L.A., Stern, R.A., Tarbell, T.D., Wuelser, J.-P., Wolfson, C.J., Yanari, C., Bookbinder, J.A., Cheimets, P.N., Caldwell, D., Deluca, E.E., Gates, R., Golub, L., Park, S., Podgorski, W.A., Bush, R.I., Scherrer, P.H., Gummin, M.A., Smith, P., Auker, G., Jerram, P., Pool, P., Soufli, R., Windt, D.L., Beardsley, S., Clapp, M., Lang, J., Waltham, N.: 2012, The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar Phys. 275, 17 – 40. doi: 10.1007/s11207-011-9776-8 .
Pasachoff, J.M., Rušin, V., Druckmüllerová, H., Saniga, M., Lu, M., Malamut, C., Seaton, D.B., Golub, L., Engell, A.J., Hill, S.W., Lucas, R.: 2011, Structure and dynamics of the 2010 July 11 eclipse white-light corona. Astrophys. J. 734(2), 114.
Raftery, C.L.: 2010, EUV and X-ray spectroscopy of the active Sun. PhD thesis, University of Dublin, Trinity College.
Raftery, C.L., Krucker, S., Lin, R.P.: 2011, Imaging spectroscopy using AIA diffraction patterns in conjunction with RHESSI and EVE observations. Astrophys. J. Lett. 743, L27. doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/743/2/L27 .
Raftery, C.L., Bloomfield, D.S., Gallagher, P.T., Seaton, D.B., Berghmans, D., De Groof, A.: 2012, Temperature response of EUV imagers on PROBA2, TRACE, SOHO, STEREO, and SDO. Solar Phys. submited.
Ravet, M.-F., Bridou, F., Zhang-Song, X., Jerome, A., Delmotte, F., Mercier, R., et al.: 2004, Ion beam deposited Mo/Si multilayers for EUV imaging applications in astrophysics. In: Amra, C., Kaiser, N., Macleod, H.A. (eds.) Adv. in Opt. Thin Films, Proc. SPIE 5250, 99 – 108.
Santandrea, S., Gantois, K., Teston, F., Tilmans, E., Baijot, C., Gerrits, D.: 2012, The PROBA2 platform. Solar Phys. submitted.
Slemzin, V., Harra, L., Urnov, A., Kuzin, S., Goryaev, F., Berghmans, D.: (2012), Signatures of the slow solar wind streams from active regions in the inner corona. Solar Phys. doi: 10.1007/s11207-012-0004-y .
Zender, J., Berghmans, D., Bloomfield, D.S., Cabanas, C., Dammasch, I., De Groof, A., D’Huys, E., Dominique, M., Gallagher, P., Giordanengo, B., Higgins, P.A., Hochedez, J.-F., Nicula, B., Pylyser, E., Sanchez-Duarte, L., Schwehm, G., Seaton, D.B., Stanger, A., Stegen, K., Willems, S., Yalim, M.S.: 2012, The Proba2 science center. Solar Phys. doi: 10.1007/s11207-012-0033-6 .
Acknowledgements
SWAP is a project of the Centre Spatial de Liège and the Royal Observatory of Belgium funded by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The work at these institutes and at the K.U. Leuven is supported by PRODEX grant C90193 (SWAP – Preparation to Exploitation), managed by the European Space Agency in collaboration with the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). We also acknowledge the financial support of the Solar Terrestrial Center of Excellence during the design, testing, and operations of SWAP. We gratefully acknowledge many helpful discussions with J.-F. Hochedez during the design and testing of SWAP. We acknowledge financial support from the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Germany, for making the SWAP calibration campaign possible through collaboration with Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). We also thank the PTB team of Frank Scholze for their dedication and support during the SWAP calibration campaigns. Part of this work was supported by the German Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG project number Ts 17/2–1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
PROBA2 – First Two Years of Solar Observation
Guest Editors: David Berghmans, Anik De Groof, Marie Dominique, and Jean-François Hochedez
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
(MOV 468 kB)
Appendix
Appendix
For quick user reference, Table 2 provides a summary of the main properties of SWAP that are relevant to general users.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Seaton, D.B., Berghmans, D., Nicula, B. et al. The SWAP EUV Imaging Telescope Part I: Instrument Overview and Pre-Flight Testing. Sol Phys 286, 43–65 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-0114-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-0114-6