Coordinated Heliosphere - How Solar Missions Work Together
- Visualizations by:
- Tom Bridgman
- View full credits
The Parker spiral created by the solar magnetic field is represented by the magenta spiral lines emanating out from and rotating with the Sun.
During encounters, spacecraft conducting in situ measurements are highlighted.
Spacecraft doing imaging have a semi-transparent conical or rectangular frustum representing the field of view of the camera.
In addition to direct 'line-of-sight' conjunctions, the spacecraft can have 'magnetic' conjunction's where they are both crossing the same outward magnetic field line in the solar wind. This configuration is represented by a wide magenta band, spiraling along lines similar to the solar magnetic field lines. The bands are represented as broad since the precise timing of these alignments may depend on local conditions such as the solar wind speed. In these configurations, it is hoped to compare charged particle flows along the solar magnetic field lines.
In many encounters, the imaging is performed while another spacecraft is passing through the camera field of view conducting in situ measurements. Those images will provide a global view of the region through which the spacecraft is traversing, providing additional context for interpreting the in situdata.
To facilitate identification of these encounters in the visualizations, a tabular list is presented below. The table identifies which instruments may conduct imaging while others are doing in situ measurements.
| Encounter Window (yyyy-mm-dd) | Imagers | in situ Instruments |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-09-11 to 2020-09-29 | STEREO-A, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2021-01-14 to 2021-01-18 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2021-04-24 to 2021-05-01 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2021-08-07 to 2021-08-20 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2021-09-18 to 2021-09-18 | Parker, Solar Orbiter, STEREO-A | |
| 2021-11-19 to 2021-11-23 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2022-02-23 to 2022-02-27 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2022-04-05 to 2022-04-05 | Parker, Solar Orbiter | |
| 2022-05-29 to 2022-06-05 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2022-09-04 to 2022-09-07 | Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2022-10-20 to 2022-10-20 | Parker, Solar Orbiter | |
| 2022-12-09 to 2022-12-12 | Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2023-03-16 to 2023-03-20 | Solar Orbiter | Parker, SOHO |
| 2023-04-17 to 2023-04-17 | Parker, Solar Orbiter | |
| 2023-06-20 to 2023-06-27 | SOHO, Solar Orbiter, STEREO-A | Parker |
| 2023-06-20 to 2023-06-27 | SOHO, Solar Orbiter, STEREO-A | Parker |
| 2023-09-27 to 2023-10-05 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
| 2023-10-12 to 2023-10-12 | SolarOrbiter, Parker | |
| 2023-12-27 to 2023-12-29 | Solar Orbiter, STEREO-A, SOHO | Parker |
| 2024-03-28 to 2024-04-08 | STEREO-A, SOHO, Solar Orbiter | Parker |
Other Notable Events
- STEREO-A was rotated while on the far side of the Sun from Earth so the HI-1 imager was viewing the region of space between the Sun and Earth. Around mid-August 2023, STEREO-A will pass Earth in its orbit and the spacecraft will be rotated again so HI-1 will view the region between Sun and Earth. This maneuver will put it back in the orientation it had after launch in 2006.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizer
- Tom Bridgman (GST) [Lead]
Writer
- Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase)
Scientists
- Angelos Vourlidas (Johns Hopkins University/APL)
- Chris St. Cyr (NASA/GSFC)
- Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla (Catholic University of America)
- William T. Thompson (ADNET)
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Papers
This visualization is based on the following papers:Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Datasets used in this visualization
SPICE Ephemerides (A.K.A. SPICE Ephemerides)
Satellite and planetary ephemerides
See more visualizations using this data setNote: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Related pages
The Many Eyes on the Parker Solar Probe Perihelion (February 2022)
Feb. 25, 2022, 5 a.m.
Read moreThis visualization opens with a top-down view, then transtions to an oblique view of the inner solar system with the various solar-observing missions conducting coordinated observations of the plasma environment. This version displays the imaging instrument camera frustums and solar magnetic field alignments - the is available in the [Download Options] menu.
Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter Trajectories
June 5, 2018, 6 a.m.
Read moreThis visualization opens near Earth for the launch of Parker Solar Probe August 12, 2018. Then the camera moves around the Sun to match of with Earth again for the launch of Solar Orbiter in 2020. After that, the camera moves in a slow drift around the Sun as the orbits evolve. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. This version has longer orbit trails to better view orbit changes, and the red along the orbits indicate the nominal science operations portions of the missions. The next missions scheduled for detailed studies of the Sun and solar atmosphere are Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter.Parker Solar Probe, launched August 12, 2018, moves in a highly-elliptical orbit, using gravity-assists from Venus to move the orbit perihelion closer to the Sun with each pass. The goal is to get the spacecraft to fly through the corona at a distance of 9.5 solar radii. Primary science operations are conducted when the spacecraft is within 0.25 astronomical units (AUs) from the Sun, so that portion of the orbit is colored red. The nominal end of mission for Parker Solar Probe is 2025, so the orbit fades away after that year. Solar Orbiter uses a series of Earth and Venus gravity assists to move its orbit perihelion (the closest distance from the Sun) to a distance inside the orbit of Mercury for detailed solar monitoring. The primary science operations for Solar Orbiter are conducted when the spacecraft is within 0.5 AUs from the Sun. This visualization opens near Earth for the launch of Parker Solar Probe on August 12, 2018. Then the camera moves around the Sun to match of with Earth again for the launch of Solar Orbiter in 2020. After that, the camera moves to a third position as the orbits evolve. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. This visualization has a fixed camera oblique view of the inner solar system to observe the orbits of Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. This visualization has a fixed camera view of the inner solar system above the ecliptic to observe the orbits of Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. This visualization presents a wide view of the orbit of Parker Solar Probe. The visualizations below were generated before the launch of Parker Solar Probe, assuming a launch date of July 31. 2018. They are included here for reference. PRELAUNCH VERSION. Generated assuming launch was July 31, 2018. This visualization opens near Earth for the launch of Parker Solar Probe at the end of July 2018. Then the camera moves around the Sun to match of with Earth again for the launch of Solar Orbiter in 2020. After that, the camera moves in a slow drift around the Sun as the orbits evolve. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. This version has longer orbit trails to better view orbit changes, and the red along the orbits indicate the nominal science operations portions of the missions. PRELAUNCH VERSION. Generated assuming launch was July 31, 2018. This visualization opens near Earth for the launch of Parker Solar Probe at the end of July 2018. Then the camera moves around the Sun to match of with Earth again for the launch of Solar Orbiter in 2020. After that, the camera moves to a third position as the orbits evolve. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. PRELAUNCH VERSION. Generated assuming launch was July 31, 2018. This visualization has a fixed camera oblique view of the inner solar system to observe the orbits of Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. PRELAUNCH VERSION. Generated assuming launch was July 31, 2018. This visualization has a fixed camera view of the inner solar system above the ecliptic to observe the orbits of Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter. The Parker Solar Probe orbit fades out after the nominal end of mission in 2025. PRELAUNCH VERSION. Generated assuming launch was July 31, 2018. This visualization presents a wide view of the orbit of Parker Solar Probe.