The longest-operating space telescope for watching the Sun celebrates its 30th anniversary on December 3. SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) was launched December 3, 1995 (left). The image at right is a composite that depicts the spacecraft against one of its images of the Sun, which shows several sunspots and some big eruptions of super-heated gases. SOHO’s work has greatly improved our understanding of the Sun and its interactions with Earth, and helped scientists improve forecasts of potentially hazardous space weather. [ESA/NASA (2)]
Find out more in our radio program entitled SOHO.