Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph

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The Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (SOHO) consists of three solar coronagraphs with nested fields of view: The first principal investigator was Dr. Guenter Brueckner. These coronagraphs monitor the solar corona by using an optical system to create, in effect, an artificial solar eclipse. The white light coronagraphs C2 and C3 produce images of the corona over much of the visible spectrum, while the C1 interferometer produces images of the corona in a number of very narrow visible wavelength bands.

Shutter speed

LASCO C3, the clear coronagraph picture, has a shutter time of about 19 seconds. LASCO C2, the orange picture, has a shutter speed of about 26 seconds.

Resolution

The three LASCO cameras have a resolution of one megapixel. The base unit of LASCO's pictures are blocks of 32x32 pixels. If only one bit is missing, as it could occur due to disturbances, the whole block is gated out.

Disturbances

The LASCO instruments have limited technical capabilities compared to more recently developed instruments. They were built in the late 1980s, when digital cameras were an emerging technology. There are two kinds of disturbances that repeatedly occur:

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