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Session 67 - New Solar Instrumentation.
Oral session, Wednesday, June 12
Wisconsin Center,
The TRACE mission is designed to obtain images of the solar transition region and corona of unprecedented quality. With these images we will be able to explore quantitatively the connections between the photospheric magnetic field and the associated hot and tenuous structures in the outer atmosphere. The TRACE telescope has an aperture of 30 cm, and will observe an 8.5 x 8.5 arcminute field of view with a resolution of one arcsecond. Finely tuned coatings on four quadrants on the primary and secondary normal--incidence mirrors will allow observations in narrow EUV and UV spectral bands. The passbands are set to Fe IX, XII, and XV lines in the EUV band, while filters allow observations in C IV, Ly \alpha, and the UV continuum using the UV mirror quadrant. The data thus cover temperatures from 10^4 K up to 10^7 K. The Sun--synchronous orbit allows long intervals of uninterrupted viewing. Observations at different wavelengths can be made in rapid succession with an alignment of 0.1 arcsec. Coordinated observing with TRACE, SoHO and YOHKOH will give us the first opportunity to observe all temperature regimes in the solar atmosphere, including magnetograms, simultaneously from space. TRACE is currently scheduled to be launched in October 1997. More information can be found on the web at ``http://pore1.space.lockheed.com/TRACE/welcome.html''.
