Wednesday, July 13, 2011

SDO maneuvers - July 13

SDO will again be off-pointing away from the Sun today, July 13, so don't be surprised to see partial Sun images, streaks, or no Sun at all! This is a planned maneuver that happens four times per year in order to help the EVE instrument more fully understand its pointing and wavelength calibration. These quarterly events are referred to as "EVE Cruciforms" as the spacecraft is pointed at various angles in pitch (up and down) and then in yaw (left to right) that make a cross-like pointing pattern centered on the Sun.