NASA’s retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 8:21 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 19, almost 21 years after its launch. From 2002 to its decommissioning in 2018, RHESSI observed solar flares from its low-Earth orbit, helping sc
NASA’s RHESSI spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere after nearly 21 years, during which it observed solar flares and provided crucial data on their underlying physics. The data allowed scientists to study energetic particles, observe various flare sizes, and make discoveries about the Sun’s shape and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. An artist’s representation of RHESSI. Flying up above Earth’s radiation-blocking atmosphere, RHESSI could observe X-rays and gamma rays from solar flares.
The spacecraft launched aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket with a mission to image the high-energy electrons that carry a large part of the energy released in solar flares. It achieved this with its sole instrument, an imaging spectrometer, which recorded X-rays and gamma rays from the Sun. Before RHESSI, no gamma-ray images nor high-energy X-ray images had been taken of solar flares.
During its mission tenure, RHESSI recorded more than 100,000 X-ray events, allowing scientists to study the energetic particles in solar flares. The imager helped researchers determine the particles’ frequency, location, and movement, which helped them understand where the particles were being accelerated.
RHESSI recorded more than 100,000 X-ray events, providing vital clues about solar flares and associated coronal mass ejections, which release immense energy into the solar atmosphere within minutes. 2012: RHESSI observed the largest solar flare in six years, an X5.4-class flare, which allowed researchers to study the behavior of high-energy particles and solar radiation during such intense events.
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