Encounter 7 (2021-01-11 - 2021-01-31, with limited additional data 2020-12-11 - 2021-02-19
This animation shows all WISPR full-field observations from the seventh PSP Mission Encounter (01-11-2021 - 01-31-2021), processed via the LW Algorithm developed by Dr. Guillermo Stenborg (JHUAPL) and detailed in Appendix A of Howard et al. 2022 (ApJ, 936, id.43. DOI 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7ff5). We have superimposed a grid showing helioprojective longitude and latitude, and a scale representation of the size and location of the Sun in the observations using the SDO/HMI Carrington map for this time period. The velocity and distance metrics displayed on the movies correspond respectively to the spacecraft's heliocentric velocity in kilometers per second, and its distance from the Sun's center in units of solar radii (where 1 solar radius = 695,700km). The "FOV Range" label provides the plane-of-sky distance limits of the inner and outermost edges of the fields of view, in units of solar radii. The horizontal blue line indicates the orbital plane of PSP. The timespan of this composite movie covers only the nominal science window when the spacecraft was within 0.25 au; a limited amount of data outside of this range may be available at the below links.
You can also download this movie directly as a 159MB mp4 file. It is also available in the same format using the L3 images, which can be downloaded here as a 39MB mp4 file.
[Credit: NASA/NRL/JHUAPL. Movie processed/compiled by Guillermo Stenborg (JHUAPL) and Brendan Gallagher (NRL). SDO inset courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.]
Solar Features
2021-01-13 03:30 CME
2021-01-14 07:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-14 17:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-15 17:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-17 07:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-17 19:00 Possible HCS crossing
2021-01-19 08:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-20 21:30 CME
2021-01-21 17:30 Streamer blob
2021-01-22 02:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-22 18:00 Streamer blob
2021-01-22 23:00 Streamer blob
Comets and planets
The following comets were observed during this encounter. Note that some of the data sets occur outside the nominal Encounter window and, in many cases, the spacecraft may have a non-standard roll orientation. Thus only limited observations would have been made for the comet in question. If you have trouble locating the comets in any of these data or questions regarding the proper treatment of the comet observation data, please contact the WISPR comet observation coordinator, Karl Battams - karl.battams[at]nrl.navy.mil.
Jan 5, 2021 (inner detector): Kreutz-group sungrazer "SOHO-4117".
[Animation credit: Alan Watson]
Jan 9-11, 2021 (outer detector): C/2020 S3 (Erasmus), ~0.81 AU from spacecraft, ~0.79 AU from Sun.
[Credit(s): PSP/WISPR/NASA/JHUAPL/NRL/Brendan Gallagher]
The following planets can be seen in the nominal encounter sequence movie (top of page), moving from left to right:
- Earth: Jan 12-13, 2021 (Outer)
- Venus: Jan 16-17, 2021 (Inner), Jan 17-18, 2021 (Outer)
- Saturn: Jan 17-18, 2021 (Inner), Jan 18-20, 2021 (Outer)
- Jupiter: Jan 17-18, 2021 (Inner), Jan 18-20, 2021 (Outer) - to the left of Saturn
- Mercury: Jan 20 - end of encounter, 2021 (Inner)
Operations summary
- N/A
Miscellaneous notes
N/A
Encounter 7 Data Products
- Encounter 7 Level-2 FITS (10 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 7 Level-2b FITS, Background Models (6.2 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 7 Level-3 FITS (4.4 Gb zip file)
- Encounter 7 L1 and L2 Summary Files (<1 MB zip file)
- Encounter 7 Level-3 PNGs, Inner camera (144 MB zip file)
- Encounter 7 Level-3 PNGs, Outer camera (111 MB zip file)
- Encounter 7, Inner mpg, 480x512px (40 MB)
- Encounter 7, Inner mpg, 960x1024px (243 MB)
- Encounter 7, Outer mpg, 480x512px (79 MB)
- Encounter 7, Outer mpg, 960x1024px (411 MB)
- Encounter 7, Inner mvi, 480x512px (203 MB)
- Encounter 7, Inner mvi, 960x1024px (810 MB)
- Encounter 7, Outer mvi, 480x512px (129 MB)
- Encounter 7, Outer mvi, 960x1024px (516 MB)
Released data for all encounters can be obtained from our WISPR Data Page. Descriptions of other encounters can be found on the Encounter Summaries Page.