TRACE (Transition Region And Coronal Explorer) was a NASA space telescope designed to investigate the connections between fine-scale magnetic fields and the associated plasma structures on the Sun by providing high resolution images and observation of the solar photosphere and transition region to the corona. A main focus of the TRACE instrument is the fine structure of coronal loops low in the solar atmosphere. TRACE is a SMEX or SMall EXplorer mission, launched in 1998 and obtaining its last science image in 2010
