Coronas-F Options

[tedstryk]

The solar eclipse of May 31, 2003, from the SPIRIT telescope aboard the Coronas-F spacecraft. The first image set, taken around 4:30 UT, shows the moon obscuring a large portion of the disk. By the time the second set was taken, at about 10:05, the eclipse was over. In these false color images, "red" represents 304 angstroms, green represents 284 angstroms, and blue represents a fusion of images from 171 and 195 angstroms.

Coronas-F functioned from 2001-2004, and was very similar to Coronas-I, which was launched in 1994 but failed after a few months. The results from the mission were quite interesting. However, even at the time of Coronas-I, the series was behind due to funding problems. All other things being equal, it really should have launched in the late 80s. As a result, its data was largely overshadowed by other missions, although its many instruments did collect valuable data.