Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO)
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) acquires unique observations of the Sun’s atmosphere to support NCAR’s goal to address critical gaps in understanding the Sun-Earth system and to provide observations to reduce damage and disruption from space weather hazards.
NCAR/HAO’s Mauna Loa Solar Observatory has reopened and will support NASA's Artemis II mission by alerting NASA’s Space Radiation Analysis Group of solar Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) that are the root cause of radiation storms in space. MLSO measures CME velocity and direction — key parameters for determining if a CME will cause a radiation storm — on average one hour before NOAA’s operational CCOR coronagraphs on the GOES or Solar-1 satellites. This critical extra lead time enables SRAG operators and the Artemis II crew to plan mitigating actions that can protect the crew from harmful radiation in space.
If you would like to receive prompt CME alerts from MLSO, send a request to mlso_data_requests@ucar.edu.
Latest Images
GONG H-alpha
The Mauna Loa Observatory GONG station is offline until power is completely restored, so the most recent GONG image from an open station is shown here.
