TOP > Our Enterprises > Missions > Solar Observation HINOTORI (ASTRO-A)
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Mission Profile
| Name (pre-launch in parentheses) | HINOTORI (ASTRO-A) | |
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| International Designation Code | 1981-017A | |
| Objectives | Observation of 2D data in hard X-ray of solar flares, solar particle rays, X-ray bursts, etc. | |
| Launch | Date | 09:30, February 21, 1981 (JST) |
| Location | Kagoshima Space Center (Uchinoura) | |
| Launch Vehicle | ||
| Configuration | Weight | 188 kg |
| Shape | Octagonal cylinder, 92.8 cm long from face to face, 81.5 cm high Equipped with four solar-array paddles  [Click image for enlargement] |
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| Orbit | Altitude | Perigee 576 km, Apogee 644 km |
| Inclination | 31° | |
| Type of Orbit | Near-circular | |
| Period | 97 min | |
| Scientific Instruments |
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| End of Operation | July 11, 1991 | |
| Reentered Date | July 11, 1991 | |
| Results | In addition to its own mission, HINOTORI also provided observational data to the international project on the maximum period of solar activity. On the first day after the start of normal operation, it observed a large solar flare and, a month later, succeeded in observing 41 flares of many sizes. With the satellite’s X-ray observations, we were able to discover several new facts including high-temperature phenomena reaching up to 50 million °C and clouds of light-speed electrons floating in coronas | |
This is hard X-ray data of a solar flare arising on April 27, 1981. The SXT (modulation collimator telescope) onboard HINOTORI observed this 2D X-ray data of the flare in the energy region of 14 to 48keV. Two X-ray profiles by linear scan are shown in the figure. Positions of X-ray sources are shown as egg shapes. The background figure was shot by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China about 30 min after the flare.
The figure is one where X-ray image (14 to 28keV) of corona of solar flare on May 13, 1981 is overlapped with magnetic field structure. This observation was made by the rotating modulation collimator onboard HINOTORI. Hard X-ray source is located around at the top of the coronal loop structure with 4 x 104 km over the photosphere.