0038-0946/05/3906- © 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc. 0489
Solar System Research, Vol. 39, No. 6, 2005, pp. 489–500. Translated from Astronomicheskii Vestnik, Vol. 39, No. 6, 2005, pp. 549–562.
Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Slemzin, Kuzin, Zhitnik, Delaboudinière, Auchere, Zhukov, Van der Linden, Bugaenko, Ignat’ev, Mitrofanov, Pertsov, Oparin,
Stepanov, Afanas’ev.
INTRODUCTION
The SPIRIT telescopes (Zhitnik et al., 2002)
onboard the CORONAS-F satellite (Oraevsky and
Sobelman, 2002) have routinely observed the Sun in
the EUV range 171–304 Å since August 2001. The
most intense ion lines emitted from the transition
region and the inner corona (T ~ 0.03–2 MK) lie in this
spectral region. At present, these observations play a
key role in studying a wide range of solar phenomena
and are used to monitor the solar activity and forecast
the space weather. The SPIRIT complex incorporates
two telescopes: a Ritchey–Chretien telescope operating
in the 171, 195, 284, and 304 Å bands and a Herschel
telescope with two channels, 175 and 304 Å.
The spectral bands of the SPIRIT telescopes were
chosen to accomplish the main objective of the experi-
ment—to study the structure and dynamics of the tran-
sition region and the lower solar corona with a temper-
ature of 0.05–2 MK (Oraevsky et al., 2002). The
Ritchey-Chretien telescope (hereafter T1) is identical
in optical design to the EIT instrument (Extreme-Ultra-
violet Imaging Telescope) onboard the SOHO space-
craft (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory; Moses et al.,
1997). The main task for T1 is to carry out synoptic
observations coordinated with the EIT instrument. The
set of mirrors for T1 was produced at the Institut
d’Astrophysique Spatiale (Orsay, France) and is a copy
of the SOHO/EIT objective.
The Herschel telescope (T2) is a third-generation
solar telescope with multilayer normal-incidence optics
and CCD detectors that have been designed at the Lebe-
dev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences,
for the past 20 years. The analogous (in optical design)
TEREK telescope onboard the Phobos-1 spacecraft,
1988, (Sobelman et al., 1990) and the TEREK-C tele-
scope onboard the CORONAS-I satellite, 1994, (Sobel-
man et al., 1996) were the prototypes of this telescope.
In comparison with their predecessors, T2 of the
SPIRIT complex has a factor of 2.6 larger aperture as
well as considerably higher sensitivity and angular and
time resolutions.
The main objective of the observations with T2 is to
study various solar structures with the highest possible
time resolution simultaneously in two spectral chan-
nels, 175 and 304 Å. The wide dynamic range of the
instrument makes it possible to perform observations at
both maximum and minimum solar activity. Simulta-
Observations of Solar EUV Radiation
with the CORONAS-F/SPIRIT and SOHO/EIT Instruments
V. A. Slemzin
1
, S. V. Kuzin
1
, I. A. Zhitnik
1
, J.-P. Delaboudinière
2
, F. Auchere
2
,
A. N. Zhukov
3
, R. Van der Linden
3
, O. I. Bugaenko
4
, A. P. Ignat’ev
1
,
A. V. Mitrofanov
1
, A. A. Pertsov
1
, S. N. Oparin
1
, A. I. Stepanov
5
, and A. N. Afanas’ev
5
1
Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 53, Moscow, 119991 Russia
2
Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France
3
Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
4
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Universitetskii pr. 13, Moscow, 119992 Russia
5
Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propagation,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow oblast’, 142190 Russia
Received April 11, 2005
Abstract—The SPIRIT complex onboard the CORONAS-F satellite has routinely imaged the Sun in the 171,
175, 195, 284, and 304 Å spectral bands since August 2001. The complex incorporates two telescopes. The
Ritchey–Chretien telescope operates in the 171, 195, 284, and 304 Å bands and has an objective similar to that
of the SOHO/EIT instrument. The Herschel telescope obtains solar images synchronously in the 175 and 304 Å
bands with two multilayer-coated parabolic mirrors. The SPIRIT program includes synoptic observations, stud-
ies of the dynamics of various structures on the solar disk and in the corona up to 5 solar radii, and coordinated
observations with other spaceborne and ground-based telescopes. In particular, in the period 2002–2003, syn-
optic observations with the SPIRIT Ritchey–Chretien telescope were coordinated with regular 6-hour
SOHO/EIT observations. Since June 2003, when EIT data were temporarily absent (SOHO keyholes), the
SPIRIT telescope has performed synoptic observations at a wavelength of 175 A. These data were used by the
Solar Influence Data Analysis Center (SIDC) at the Royal Observatory of Belgium for an early space weather
forecast. We analyze the photometric and spectral parameters of the SPIRIT and EIT instruments and compare
the integrated (over the solar disk) EUV fluxes using solar images obtained with these instruments during the
CORONAS-F flight from August 2001 through December 2003.