Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

IRIS is intended to advance Sun-Earth connection studies by tracing the flow of energy and plasma into the corona and heliosphere for which no suitable observations exist. To achieve this IRIS obtains a high-resolution UV spectra and images of the Sun's chromosphere, specifically on the non-thermal energy that creates the corona and the solar wind. IRIS seeks to determine: (1) the types of non-thermal energy which dominate in the chromosphere and beyond; (2) the means by which the chromosphere regulates mass and energy supply to the corona and heliosphere; and, (3) how magnetic flux and matter rise through the lower solar atmosphere, and the role played by flux emergence in flares and mass ejections. To answer these questions, IRIS utilize a single instrument, a multi-channel imaging spectrograph.{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=2013-033A|title=Display: IRIS (Explorer 94) 2013-033A |publisher=NASA|date=28 October 2021|access-date=12 December 2021}} {{PD-notice}}

File:IRIS observatory overview.png

File:IRIS spectrograph assembly.png

The spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on 16 April 2013 and was successfully deployed from an Orbital L-1011 carrier aircraft flying over the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of {{cvt|12000|m}}, roughly {{cvt|160|km}} northwest of Vandenberg. The launch vehicle was dropped at 02:27:46 UTC on 28 June 2013 (7:27 p.m. PDT on 27 June 2013) by a Pegasus-XL launch vehicle.

The IRIS instrument is a multi-channel imaging spectrograph with a {{cvt|19|cm}} ultraviolet telescope. IRIS obtains a spectra along a slit (1/3 arcsecond wide), and slit-jaw images. The charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors has 1/6 arcsecond pixels. IRIS will have an effective spatial resolution between 0.33 and 0.40 arcsecond and a maximum field of view (FoV) of 120 arcseconds. The far-ultraviolet channel covers 133.2-135.8 nm and 139.0-140.6 nm with an 0.04 nm resolution and an effective area of {{cvt|2.8|cm2}}. The near-ultraviolet channel covers 278.5-283.5 nm with an 0.08 nm resolution and an effective area of {{cvt|0.3|cm2}}.{{cite web|url=https://iris.lmsal.com/documents/iris_csr_instrument.pdf|title=Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Concept Study Report (CSR)|publisher=LMSAL|date=16 December 2008|access-date=20 April 2024}} Slit-jaw imaging has four passbands: 133.5 nm and 140.0 nm with a 4 nm bandpass each; and 279.6 nm and 283.1 nm with a 0.4 nm bandpass each. IRIS has a high data rate (0.7 Mbit/s on average) so that the baseline cadence is 5 seconds for slit-jaw images and 1 second for six spectral windows, including rapid rastering to map solar regions.{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=2013-033A-01|title=Experiment: Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)|publisher=NASA|date=28 October 2021|access-date=12 December 2021}} {{PD-notice}}

IRIS achieved first light on 17 July 2013. NASA noted that "IRIS's first images showed a multitude of thin, fibril-like structures that have never been seen before, revealing enormous contrasts in density and temperature occur throughout this region even between neighboring loops that are only a few hundred miles apart". On 31 October 2013, calibrated IRIS data and images were released on the project website. An open-access article describing the satellite and initial data was published in the journal Solar Physics.

Data collected from the IRIS spacecraft has shown that the interface region of the Sun is significantly more complex than previously thought. This includes features described as solar heat bombs, high-speed plasma jets, nano-flares, and mini-tornadoes. These features are an important step in understanding the transfer of heat to the corona.

In 2019, IRIS detected tadpole like jets coming out from the Sun according to NASA.{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/solar-tadpole-like-jets-seen-with-nasa-s-iris-add-new-clue-to-age-old-mystery|title=Tadpole-Like Jets From Sun Add New Clue to Age-Old Mystery|publisher=NASA|date=2019-02-19|access-date=2019-04-10}} {{PD-notice}}

A Slice of Light How IRIS Observes the Sun.webm|Video of IRIS data from a solar flare on 11 March 2015

Iris-sdo-x1.6-20140910.jpg|X-class solar flare on Sept. 10, 2014

Iris 20150428 100823 0.gif|IRIS captured several large solar prominences on the edge of the Sun

IRIS Image of Sun dec 2013.jpg|IRIS view above the Sun's surface extending well out into the solar atmosphere

Science and engineering team members include:

• Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory
• Lockheed Martin Sensing and Exploration Systems
• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• Montana State University
• Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo
• High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research
• Stanford University
• NASA Ames Research Center
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• National Solar Observatory
• Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
• Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
• Sydney Institute for Astronomy, University of Sydney
• Center for Plasma Astrophysics, Catholic University of Leuven
• Mullard Space Science Laboratory
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
• European Space Agency
• Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/may/HQ_C08029_SMEX_Awards.html|title=NASA Selects Small Explorer Investigations for Concept Studies|publisher=NASA|first=J. D. |last=Harrington|date=29 May 2008}} {{PD-notice}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jun/HQ_09-141_SMEX_Selections.html|title=NASA Awards Two Small Explorer Development Contracts|publisher=NASA|first=J. D. |last=Harrington|date=19 June 2009}} {{PD-notice}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/iris/news/arrives-vafb.html|title=NASA'S Newest Solar Satellite Arrives at Vandenberg AFB for Launch|publisher=NASA|first1=Susan|last1=Hendrix|first2=George|last2=Diller|date=17 April 2013|access-date=18 April 2013|archive-date=3 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703025340/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/iris/news/arrives-vafb.html|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/content/iris-solar-observatory-launches-begins-mission/|title=IRIS Solar Observatory Launches, Begins Mission|publisher=NASA|date=28 June 2013}} {{PD-notice}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/iris-telescope-first-glimpse-of-suns-mysterious-atmosphere/index.html|title=NASA's IRIS Telescope Offers First Glimpse of Sun's Mysterious Atmosphere|publisher=NASA|first=Karen C.|last=Fox|date=25 July 2013|access-date=29 July 2013|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910093524/http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/iris-telescope-first-glimpse-of-suns-mysterious-atmosphere/index.html|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}

{{cite web|url=http://iris.lmsal.com/|title=Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph|publisher=Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory}}

{{cite journal|title=The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)|journal=Solar Physics |first1=B.|last1=De Pontieu|first2=A. M.|last2=Title|first3=J.|last3=Lemen |first4=G. D.|last4=Kushner|first5=D. J.|last5=Akin|first6=B.|last6=Allard|first7=T.|last7=Berger|first8=P.|last8=Boerner|first9=M.|last9=Cheung|first10=C.|last10=Chou|last11=Drake|first11=J. F.|last12=Duncan |first12=D. W.|last13=Freeland|first13=S.|last14=Heyman|first14=G. F.|last15=Hoffman|first15=C.|last16=Hurlburt|first16=N. E.|last17=Lindgren|first17=R. W.|last18=Mathur|first18=D.|last19=Rehse|first19=R. |last20=Sabolish|first20=D.|last21=Seguin|first21=R.|last22=Schrijver|first22=C. J.|last23=Tarbell|first23=T. D.|last24=Wülser|first24=J.-P.|last25=Wolfson|first25=C. J.|last26=Yanari|first26=C.|last27=Mudge |first27=J.|last28=Nguyen-Phuc|first28=N.|last29=Timmons|first29=R.|last30=van Bezooijen|first30=R.|display-authors=5|volume=289|issue=7|pages=2733–2779|date=July 2014|arxiv=1401.2491 |bibcode=2014SoPh..289.2733D|doi=10.1007/s11207-014-0485-y|s2cid=53596913}}

{{cite journal|title=On the prevalence of small-scale twist in the solar chromosphere and transition region|journal=Science |first1=B.|last1=De Pontieu|first2=L. |last2=Rouppe van der Voort|first3=S. W.|last3=McIntosh|first4=T. M. D.|last4=Pereira|first5=M.|last5=Carlsson|first6=V.|last6=Hansteen|first7=H.|last7=Skogsrud|first8=J.|last8=Lemen|first9=A. M.|last9=Title |first10=P.|last10=Boerner|first11=N.|last11=Hurlburt|first12=T. D.|last12=Tarbell|first13=J. P.|last13=Wuelser|first14=E. E.|last14=De Luca|first15=L.|last15=Golub|first16=S.|last16=McKillop|first17=K. |last17=Reeves|first18=S.|last18=Saar|first19=P.|last19=Testa|first20=H.|last20=Tian|first21=C.|last21=Kankelborg|first22=S.|last22=Jaeggli|first23=L.|last23=Kleint|first24=J.|last24=Martinez-Sykora|display-authors=5|volume=346|issue=6207|page=1255732|date=October 2014|arxiv=1410.6862|bibcode=2014Sci...346D.315D|doi=10.1126/science.1255732|pmid=25324398|s2cid=51601695}}

}}

{{Commons category|IRIS (satellite)}}

• [https://science.nasa.gov/mission/iris/ Official website] at NASA Science
• [https://iris.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Official website] at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• [http://iris.lmsal.com/ Official website] at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory
• De Pontieu, B., Polito, V., Hansteen, V. et al. A New View of the Solar Interface Region from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Sol Phys 296, 84 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-021-01826-0

{{Explorer program}}

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{{Space observatories}}

{{Orbital launches in 2013}}

{{2013 in space}}

Category:Explorers Program

Category:Missions to the Sun

Category:Spectrographs

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