Welcome to the PROBA2 Science Center

Science and science operations

of the PROBA satellite fleet

At around 14:00 on March 5th 2014, SWAP, the EUV imager on PROBA2, observed a wave travelling over the solar North pole. The wave was probably generated during a strong eruption on the Northern backside of the Sun.

On February 25th, early in the morning, the 'returning' active regions AR11967 (now called AR11990), generated an X4.9 flare, the strongest flare in 2014. Both LYRA and SWAP on-board PROBA2 witnessed the event.

A (daily) SWAP movie and SWAP difference movie can be found, respectively, here: http://proba2.oma.be/swap/data/mpg/movies/20140225_swap_movie.mp4 and http://proba2.oma.be/swap/data/mpg/movies/20140225_swap_diff.mp4

A recent paper by Verbeeck, C. et al.

MYSTERIES DEEPEN AS COMET ISON FAILS TO MAKE LONG ANTICIPATED APPEARANCE

The long-awaited and much-hyped comet ISON surprised astronomers and solar physicists when it mysteriously failed to appear in images from extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) solar telescopes on Thursday. The SWAP solar telescope, on board the Belgium-based ESA mission PROBA2, conducted an extraordinary campaign to image ISON, but failed to detect any sign of the unusual comet.

Comet ISON raced past the Sun on November 28, but left no clues about its structure — or the structure of the solar corona — for extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) telescopes like SWAP that had been turned towards the unique comet in the hope of capturing images of its passage through perihelion.

The PROBA2 team is proud to present the PROBA2 Holiday Countdown Calendar! One day at a time you will discover highlights of the PROBA2 satellite and the Sun!

In just a few hours, Comet ISON will whip past the surface of the sun at hundreds of kilometers per second, and PROBA2 is waiting to capture its passage through perihelion.

PROBA2 Christmas Countdown Calendar

Three partial solar eclipses were observed  by PROBA-2 as it moved in and out of the Moon’s shadow during the 03-Nov-2013 ‘hybrid’ solar eclipse.

A hybrid eclipse is comprised of a total solar eclipse and an ‘annular eclipse’, depending on an observer’s viewing location on Earth.

During a total solar eclipse, the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, their alignment and separation are such that the much closer Moon appears large enough to block out the light from the much more distant Sun.