Until GOES-19 is fully operational (currently expected April 4th), all animations and data are preliminary and non-operational.
Beginning February 6, 2025, the Space Weather Prediction Center is presenting new coronagraph images from the GOES-19 Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1). The images are updated every 15 minutes and are displayed as an animation (CCOR-1 Coronagraph) on the Space Weather Prediction Testbed (SWPT).
More Space Weather can be found on usradioguy.com Space Weather Page
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Forecast Office uses imagery from the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR) instruments to analyze the Sun’s corona (its outermost atmospheric layer). This analysis includes monitoring transient events like coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and the corona’s influence on the solar wind (the constant plasma stream from the Sun). The CCOR image data will ultimately feed into the WSA-Enlil model to predict how CMEs and the solar wind will affect Earth.
The Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1) images the Sun’s corona in the visible light spectrum (480nm – 730nm). Utilizing an occulting disk to block the intense photospheric light, CCOR-1 observes the fainter corona from 3.7 to 17 solar radii with a spatial resolution of approximately 50 arcseconds. Deployed on the Sun-Pointing-Platform of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U), launched June 25th and renamed GOES-19 upon reaching geostationary orbit on July 7th, CCOR-1 is one of several instruments onboard. Further CCOR-1 instrument details are available [here](insert link).
CCOR-1 is the first operational coronagraph dedicated to space weather forecasting and the first to operate from geostationary orbit. This geostationary vantage point introduces unique observational characteristics. Unlike coronagraphs at the Lagrange-1 point (L1), 1.5 million km sunward of Earth, CCOR-1’s proximity to Earth (within the Moon’s orbit) results in lunar transits across its field of view. The combined orbital motion of GOES-19 and the Moon can create apparent curved or looping lunar paths. Furthermore, Earthshine (sunlight reflected from Earth’s albedo) impacts CCOR-1 data, particularly during sunrise and most significantly around the equinoxes (March and September), diminishing towards the solstices. During equinox periods, Earth occultation can occur, and CCOR-1’s sensitivity even reveals city lights on Earth’s night side in difference images. Standard astronomical objects (planets, comets, satellites) and occasional space debris are also observed. Fixed instrument artifacts, such as the occulting disk’s dark “collar” (visible against a bright background), are also present. Mitigation strategies for Earthshine contamination are under development.
