WISPR

{{Short description|Instrument on the Parker Solar Probe}}

File:Parker-Solar-Probe-WISPR.png

The Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) is an imaging instrument of the Parker Solar Probe mission to the Sun, launched in August 2018.{{Cite web |url=https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12927 |title=Looking at the Corona with WISPR on Parker Solar Probe |publisher=NASA/Goddard Media Studios |date=16 April 2018 |access-date=14 September 2018}} Imaging targets include visible light images of the corona, solar wind, shocks, solar ejecta, etc. Development of WISPR was led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.{{cite web |url=https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=106691 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810192911/http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=106691 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |title=NRL's Sun Imaging Telescopes Fly on NASA Parker Solar Probe |publisher=U.S. Navy |date=10 August 2018 |access-date=14 September 2018 |id=NNS180810-19}} The Parker Solar Probe with WISPR on board was launched by a Delta IV Heavy on 12 August 2018 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.{{Cite web |url=http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=94 |title=Parker Solar Probe Launches on Historic Journey to Touch the Sun |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory |last1=Brown |first1=Geoffrey |last2=Brown |first2=Dwayne |last3=Fox |first3=Karen |date=12 August 2018 |access-date=13 August 2018}} WISPR is intended take advantage of the spacecraft's proximity to the Sun by taking coronagraph-style images of the solar corona and features like coronal streamers, plumes, and mass ejections.{{cite web |url=https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=106691 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810192911/http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=106691 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |title=NRL's Sun Imaging Telescopes Fly on NASA Parker Solar Probe |publisher=U.S. Navy/Naval Research Laboratory |date=10 August 2018 |accessdate=7 October 2018 |id=NNS180810-19}} One of the goals is to better understand the structure of the solar corona near the Sun.

WISPR is designed to study the electron density and velocity structure of the corona.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Our-Work/Areas-of-Research/Space-Science/ |title=Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe Plus (WISPR) |publisher=U.S. Navy/Naval Research Laboratory |access-date=14 September 2018}} The instrument field of view is planned to extend from 13 to 108 degrees away from the Sun, and does not directly image the Sun; the area of interest is a very wide field extending away from the Sun.

WISPR includes two separate telescopes, each with a radiation-hardened CMOS imager with resolution of 2,048×1,920 pixels.{{Cite web |url=https://www.sri.com/work/projects/wide-field-imager-solar-probe-wispr |title=Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) |publisher=SRI International |access-date=14 September 2018}} The CMOS sensors are an active pixel sensor type of detector.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-instruments |title=Parker Solar Probe Instruments |publisher=NASA |editor-last=Garner |editor-first=Rob |date=12 July 2018 |access-date=7 October 2018}} The two telescopes are designated WISPR-Inner (WISPR-I) and WISPR-Outer (WISPR-O), with WISPR-I observing at angles 13°–53° away from the Sun and WISPR-O viewing elongations of 50°–108°.{{cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Brian E. |last2=Hess |first2=Phillip |last3=Lustig‐Yaeger |first3=Jacob |last4=Gallagher |first4=Brendan |last5=Korwan |first5=Daniel |last6=Rich |first6=Nathan |last7=Stenborg |first7=Guillermo |last8=Thernisien |first8=Arnaud |last9=Qadri |first9=Syed N. |last10=Santiago |first10=Freddie |last11=Peralta |first11=Javier |last12=Arney |first12=Giada N. |last13=Izenberg |first13=Noam R. |last14=Vourlidas |first14=Angelos |last15=Linton |first15=Mark G. |last16=Howard |first16=Russell A. |last17=Raouafi |first17=Nour E. |title=Parker Solar Probe Imaging of the Night Side of Venus |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |date=16 February 2022 |volume=49 |issue=3 |doi=10.1029/2021GL096302|pmc=9286398 }} Both telescopes observe at both visible and near-infrared wavelengths,{{cite web |title=PSP (Parker Solar Probe) |url=https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/psp |website=Satellite Missions Catalogue |publisher=eoPortal |access-date=2 February 2025 |date=21 July 2016}} with bandpass filters of 490–740 nm and 475–725 nm on WISPR-I and WISPR-O, respectively.{{cite web |title=System Description |url=https://wispr.nrl.navy.mil/overview/system |website=WISPR |publisher=U.S. Naval Research Laboratory |access-date=2 February 2025}}

The WISPR first light image was published in September 2018.{{Cite web |url=http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=101 |title=Illuminating First Light Data from Parker Solar Probe |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory |first1=Sarah |last1=Frazier |first2=Justyna |last2=Surowiec |date=19 September 2018 |access-date=22 September 2018}} In December, a view of the corona including a coronal streamer was released.{{Cite web|url=http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=115|title=Preparing for Discovery With NASA's Parker Solar Probe|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory|website=Parker Solar Probe|language=en|access-date=2018-12-23}}

In November 2018, a video of WIPSR recording solar wind during the spacecraft's first close pass to the Sun was released.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/one-year-2-trips-around-sun-for-nasas-parker-solar-probe|title=One Year, 2 Trips Around Sun for NASA's Parker Solar Probe|last=Garner|first=Rob|date=2019-08-12|website=NASA|access-date=2019-09-16}} One project scientist noted, "The data we’re seeing from Parker Solar Probe’s instruments is showing us details about solar structures and processes that we have never seen before."