Since EUV flux, or radiation, cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, scientists who want to learn more about this important energy source from the sun must conduct their experiments in space.
Scientists need accurate measurements of the sun's absolute EUV emissions to develop models of the scattering, ionization, and heating of planetary atmospheres (including our own), moons, and comets. Data from early attempts to measure EUV radiation exhibited rather large uncertainties caused primarily by instrument calibration uncertainties and difficulty separating changes in the sensitivity of instruments from the variability of solar EUV emissions.
Because of the stability of its three EUV detectors, the SEH can surmount these obstacles. When the SEH flew on STS-69, it produced the most reliable absolute solar EUV data so far.
Scientists hope that these experiments will provide data that will help them improve their global solar atmospheric models, which will lead to a better understanding of solar variability.
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