trace

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

Launched April 1998

TRACE, carried a 30-cm extreme ultraviolet imaging telescope for studies of the sun. Lockheed was the lead contractor while the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory made the telescope mirrors. TRACE had a field of view of 8.5 arcmin and a resolution of 1 arcsecond. TRACE was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit,
enabling it to make continuous observation of the sun.