NASA successfully launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on this day to conduct comprehensive scientific studies of the sun.
This mission represents a significant advancement in solar research and space exploration technology.
Elsewhere in the 38th Daytona 500, Dale Jarrett wins his 2nd Great American race ahead of Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader.
In the Cricket World Cup and the firstOne Day International against the Kenyan national team in Cuttack Sachin Tendulkar scores 127no in India's 7 wicket win
The ESA-sponsored Observatory carries 12 scientific instruments to study the solar atmosphere, helioseismology, and the solar wind. Information from the mission allowed scientists to learn more about the Sun’s internal structure and dynamics, the chromosphere, the corona, and solar particles.
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The SOHO and Cluster missions, part of ESA’s Solar Terrestrial Science Programme (STSP), are ESA’s contributions to the International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program, which has involved the work of other spacecraft such as Wind and ACE, which, like SOHO, operate in the vicinity of the Sun-Earth L1 point.
NASA contributed three instruments to SOHO as well as launch and flight operations support.
About two months after launch, SOHO was placed at a distance of 932,000 miles (1.5 million kilometres) from Earth in an elliptical Lissajous orbit around the L1 liberation point where it takes approximately six months to orbit L1 (while the L1 itself orbits the Sun every 12 months).
Elsewhere in the 38th Daytona 500, Dale Jarrett wins his 2nd Great American race ahead of Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader.
In the Cricket World Cup and the firstOne Day International against the Kenyan national team in Cuttack Sachin Tendulkar scores 127no in India's 7 wicket win