Multiyear observations of the galaxy Mk 501

Data of six-year observations of very high energy (E > 10¹¹ eV) gamma-ray flux from the active galactic nucleus Mk 501 obtained using the ground-based GT-48 telescope are analyzed and compared with the 2–10 keV X-ray data obtained using the ASM instrument onboard the RXTE satellite. A positive correlation between the average annual X-and gamma-ray fluxes is demonstrated.     

膜圆顶及塔架对南极望远镜风载影响的仿真分析

为了充分利用Dome A地区绝佳的视宁度条件, 计划将南极望远镜安装在15m高的塔架上并使用轻质膜圆顶. 研究了在塔架和膜圆顶作用下风载对望远镜观测环境的影 响, 利用计算流体力学(Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD)分析了在10m·s^-1稳态风作用下,不同风向角、方位轴转动角以及镜筒转动角时,望远镜周围风速、湍动能的分布情况以及光程差的变化,同时研究了风屏对风速、湍动能的改善作用和带来的温升.结果表明,塔架和圆顶周围的风速与湍动能分布对风向的改变不敏感;迎风状态时望远镜附近的湍流分布与风速分布情况整体优于背风状态;当风速为10m·s^-1时,在距离风屏1m远、3m高的位置处风速降为来流风速的1/3至1/4,望远镜附近的平均温升值为0.044 K.     

Astro-E Mission and the X-ray survey

The fifth Japaniese X-ray astronomy satellite, Astro-E, following Hakucho, Tenma, Ginga, and ASCA is scheduled for launch in the year 2000 by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) with an M-V rocket. The satellite will be put into an approximately circular orbit with an altitude of ∽550 km and an inclination of ∽31°. There will be three experiments on board Astro-E: an X-ray micro-calorimeter array, four X-ray CCDs and a hard X-ray detector. All three experiments combined, Astro-E will become a spectrometer facility covering a wide energy band from 0.5 keV to 600 keV.     

Soft X-ray sources at the centers of the elliptical galaxies NGC 4472 and NGC 4649

Analysis of recent observations of the elliptical galaxies NGC 4472 and NGC 4649 with the Chandra X-ray space telescope has revealed faint soft X-ray sources at their centers. The sources are located at the galactic centers, to within 1″, and are most likely associated with the radiation from the supermassive black holes that are assumed to be at the optical centers of these galaxies. Interest in these and several other similar objects stems from the unusually low luminosity of the supermassive black hole embedded in a dense interstellar medium. The sources have soft energy spectra in the Chandra energy range 0.2–10 keV. The source is detected at a 3σ confidence level only in the range 0.2–0.6 keV with a luminosity of ～6×10³⁷ erg s^?1 in NGC 4649 and in the range 0.2–2.5 keV with a luminosity of ～ 1.7×10³⁸ erg ^?1 in NGC 4472.     

GRI: focusing on the evolving violent universe

The gamma-ray imager (GRI) is a novel mission concept that will provide an unprecedented sensitivity leap in the soft gamma-ray domain by using for the first time a focusing lens built of Laue diffracting crystals. The lens will cover an energy band from 200–1,300 keV with an effective area reaching 600 cm². It will be complemented by a single reflection multilayer coated mirror, extending the GRI energy band into the hard X-ray regime, down to ∼10 keV. The concentrated photons will be collected by a position sensitive pixelised CZT stack detector. We estimate continuum sensitivities of better than 10^− 7 ph cm^− 2s^− 1keV^− 1 for a 100 ks exposure; the narrow line sensitivity will be better than 3 × 10^− 6 ph cm^− 2s^− 1 for the same integration time. As focusing instrument, GRI will have an angular resolution of better than 30 arcsec within a field of view of roughly 5 arcmin—an unprecedented achievement in the gamma-ray domain. Owing to the large focal length of 100 m of the lens and the mirror, the optics and detector will be placed on two separate spacecrafts flying in formation in a high elliptical orbit. R&D work to enable the lens focusing technology and to develop the required focal plane detector is currently underway, financed by ASI, CNES, ESA, and the Spanish Ministery of Education and Science. The GRI mission has been proposed as class M mission for ESAs Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 program. GRI will allow studies of particle acceleration processes and explosion physics in unprecedented detail, providing essential clues on the innermost nature of the most violent and most energetic processes in the universe. All authors are on behalf of a large international collaboration The GRI mission has been proposed as an international collaboration between (in alphabetical order) Belgium (CSR), China (IHEP, Tsinghua Univ.), Denmark (DNSC, Southern Univ.), France (CESR, APC, ILL, CSNSM, IAP, LAM), Germany (MPE), Ireland (UCD School of Physics), Italy (INAF/IASF Rome, Bologna, Milano, Palermo; INAF/OA Brera, Roma; UNIFE, CNR/IMEM), Poland (NCAC), Portugal (Combra Univ., Evora Univ.), Russia (SINP, MSU, Ioffe Inst.), Spain (IEEC-CSIC-IFAE, CNM-IMB), the Netherlands (SRON, Utrecht Univ.), Turkey (Sabanci Univ.), United Kingdom (Univ. of Southampton, MSSL, RAL, Edinburgh Univ.), and the United States of America (SSL UC Berkeley, Argonne National Lab., MSFC, GSFC, US NRL).     

Energization of plasma in a weak magnetic field and structure of the geomagnetic tail

A two-fluid plasma is described as a single continuum characterised by the generalised tensor of mechanical pressure and generalised vector of flow of mechanical energy. Plasma energization due to the transfer of mechanical energy inside the plasma body is emphasised and the energization of plasma by conversion of the electromagnetic energy into the mechanical energy is discussed. Two kinds of conversion associated with the convection electric field –(1/c)V×B and with the deviationE ^* of the total electric field from –(1/c)V×B are distinguished. TheV×B-field is related to the work done upon the plasma, while theE ^*-field is related to the plasma heating.Plasma motions with scale length larger than the Debye distance, taking place in the central part of the Earth-plasma sheet, are considered. The change of energy of any element of plasma is due mainly to the transfer of mechanical energy across the element's boundary; the EM-field is not strong enough to make a significant contribution. The work done by the internal loads is the main source of mechanical energy in the configurations in which the physical quantities do not vary along the current lines. The rates of change of the kinetic and internal energies are comparable. The transfer of mechanical energy is the principal source of the kinetic energy also in the general case when the physical quantities vary along the current lines. Conversion of the EM energy into mechanical energy is the main source of the internal energy in this case. In the tail plasma located outside the central part of the plasma sheet, conversion of the EM-energy into mechanical energy, which is due to the work done by the EM-force, takes place. The tail plasma is likely to undergo a two-phase energization process: first, it is accelerated and later, when it approaches the neutral sheet, it is heated.     

Time-Dependent Stochastic Modeling of Solar Active Region Energy

A time-dependent model for the energy of a flaring solar active region is presented based on an existing stochastic jump-transition model (Wheatland and Glukhov in Astrophys. J. 494, 858, 1998; Wheatland in Astrophys. J. 679, 1621, 2008 and Solar Phys. 255, 211, 2009). The magnetic free energy of an active region is assumed to vary in time due to a prescribed (deterministic) rate of energy input and prescribed (random) jumps downwards in energy due to flares. The existing model reproduces observed flare statistics, in particular flare frequency – size and waiting-time distributions, but modeling presented to date has considered only the time-independent choices of constant energy input and constant flare-transition rates with a power-law distribution in energy. These choices may be appropriate for a solar active region producing a constant mean rate of flares. However, many solar active regions exhibit time variation in their flare productivity, as exemplified by NOAA active region (AR) 11029, observed during October – November 2009 (Wheatland in Astrophys. J. 710, 1324, 2010). Time variation is incorporated into the jump-transition model for two cases: (1) a step change in the rates of flare transitions, and (2) a step change in the rate of energy supply to the system. Analytic arguments are presented describing the qualitative behavior of the system in the two cases. In each case the system adjusts by shifting to a new stationary state over a relaxation time which is estimated analytically. The model exhibits flare-like event statistics. In each case the frequency – energy distribution is a power law for flare energies less than a time-dependent rollover set by the largest energy the system is likely to attain at a given time. The rollover is not observed if the mean free energy of the system is sufficiently large. For Case 1, the model exhibits a double exponential waiting-time distribution, corresponding to flaring at a constant mean rate during two intervals (before and after the step change), if the average energy of the system is large. For Case 2 the waiting-time distribution is a simple exponential, again provided the average energy of the system is large. Monte Carlo simulations of Case 1 are presented which confirm the estimate for the relaxation time and the expected forms of the frequency – energy and waiting-time distributions. The simulation results provide a qualitative model for observed flare statistics in AR 11029.     

Polarization Calibration of the Solar Optical Telescope onboard Hinode

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode aims to obtain vector magnetic fields on the Sun through precise spectropolarimetry of solar spectral lines with a spatial resolution of 0.2 – 0.3 arcsec. A photometric accuracy of 10⁻³ is achieved and, after the polarization calibration, any artificial polarization from crosstalk among Stokes parameters is required to be suppressed below the level of the statistical noise over the SOT’s field of view. This goal was achieved by the highly optimized design of the SOT as a polarimeter, extensive analyses and testing of optical elements, and an end-to-end calibration test of the entire system. In this paper we review both the approach adopted to realize the high-precision polarimeter of the SOT and its final polarization characteristics.     

Nonlinear Force-Free Modeling of Coronal Magnetic Fields Part I: A Quantitative Comparison of Methods

We compare six algorithms for the computation of nonlinear force-free (NLFF) magnetic fields (including optimization, magnetofrictional, Grad–Rubin based, and Green's function-based methods) by evaluating their performance in blind tests on analytical force-free-field models for which boundary conditions are specified either for the entire surface area of a cubic volume or for an extended lower boundary only. Figures of merit are used to compare the input vector field to the resulting model fields. Based on these merit functions, we argue that all algorithms yield NLFF fields that agree best with the input field in the lower central region of the volume, where the field and electrical currents are strongest and the effects of boundary conditions weakest. The NLFF vector fields in the outer domains of the volume depend sensitively on the details of the specified boundary conditions; best agreement is found if the field outside of the model volume is incorporated as part of the model boundary, either as potential field boundaries on the side and top surfaces, or as a potential field in a skirt around the main volume of interest. For input field (B) and modeled field (b), the best method included in our study yields an average relative vector error E_n = 〈 |B−b|〉/〈 |B|〉 of only 0.02 when all sides are specified and 0.14 for the case where only the lower boundary is specified, while the total energy in the magnetic field is approximated to within 2%. The models converge towards the central, strong input field at speeds that differ by a factor of one million per iteration step. The fastest-converging, best-performing model for these analytical test cases is the Wheatland, Sturrock, and Roumeliotis (2000) optimization algorithm as implemented by Wiegelmann (2004).     

Monte Carlo Simulation of Solar Active-Region Energy

A Monte Carlo approach to solving a stochastic-jump transition model for active-region energy (Wheatland and Glukhov: Astrophys. J. 494, 858, 1998; Wheatland: Astrophys. J. 679, 1621, 2008) is described. The new method numerically solves the stochastic differential equation describing the model, rather than the equivalent master equation. This has the advantages of allowing more efficient numerical solution, the modeling of time-dependent situations, and investigation of details of event statistics. The Monte Carlo approach is illustrated by application to a Gaussian test case and to the class of flare-like models presented in Wheatland (Astrophys. J. 679, 1621, 2008), which are steady-state models with constant rates of energy supply, and power-law distributed jump transition rates. These models have two free parameters: an index (δ), which defines the dependence of the jump transition rates on active-region energy, and a nondimensional ratio ( ) of total flaring rate to rate of energy supply. For the nondimensional mean energy of the active-region satisfies , resulting in a power-law distribution of flare events over many decades of energy. The Monte Carlo method is used to explore the behavior of the waiting-time distributions for the flare-like models. The models with δ≠0 are found to have waiting times that depart significantly from simple Poisson behavior when . The original model from Wheatland and Glukhov (Astrophys. J. 494, 858, 1998), with δ=0 (i.e., no dependence of transition rates on active-region energy), is identified as being most consistent with observed flare statistics.     

Brief history of ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astrophysics with atmospheric air Cherenkov telescopes

The discovery of the Crab Nebula as the first source of TeV gamma rays in 1989, using the technique of ground-based imaging air Cherenkov telescope, has marked the birthday of observational gamma astronomy in very high energy range. The team led by Trevor Weekes, after twenty years of trial and error, success and misfortune, step-by-step improvements in both the technique and understanding of gamma shower discrimination methods, used the 10 m diameter telescope on Mount Hopkins in Arizona, and succeeded measuring a 9σ signal from the direction of Crab Nebula. As of today over 160 sources of gamma rays of very different types, of both galactic and extra-galactic origin, have been discovered due to this technique. This is a really fast evolving branch in science, rapidly improving our understanding of the most violent and energetic sources and processes in the sky.The study of these sources provides clues to many basic questions in astrophysics, astro-particle physics, physics of cosmic rays and cosmology. Today’s telescopes, despite the young age of the technique, offer a solid performance. The technique is still maturing, leading to the next generation large instrument. This article is devoted to outlining the milestones in a long history that step-by-step have made this technique emerge and have brought about today’s successful source hunting.     

Optical and infrared colors of transneptunian objects observed with HST

We present optical colors of 72 transneptunian objects (TNOs), and infrared colors of 80 TNOs obtained with the WFPC2 and NICMOS instruments, respectively, on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Both optical and infrared colors are available for 32 objects that overlap between the datasets. This dataset adds an especially uniform, consistent and large contribution to the overall sample of colors, particularly in the infrared. The range of our measured colors is consistent with other colors reported in the literature at both optical and infrared wavelengths. We find generally good agreement for objects measured by both us and others; 88.1% have better than 2 sigma agreement. The median absolute magnitude, H_V, magnitude of our optical sample is 7.2, modestly smaller (∼0.5 mag) than for previous samples. The median H_V in our infrared sample is 6.7. We find no new correlations between color and dynamical properties (semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination and perihelion). We do find that colors of Classical objects with i < 6° come from a different distribution than either the Resonant or excited populations in the visible at the >99.99% level with a K-S test. The same conclusion is found in the infrared at a slightly lower significance level, 99.72%. Two Haumea collision fragments with strong near infrared ice bands are easily identified with broad HST infrared filters and point to an efficient search strategy for identifying more such objects. We find evidence for variability in (19255) 1999 VK₈, 1999 OE₄, 2000 CE₁₀₅, 1998 KG₆₂ and 1998 WX₃₁.     

A new class of LRS Bianchi type-II dark energy models with variable EoS parameter

A new class of dark energy models in a Locally Rotationally Symmetric Bianchi type-II (LRS B-II) space-time with variable equation of state (EoS) parameter and constant deceleration parameter have been investigated in the present paper. The Einstein’s field equations have been solved by applying a variation law for generalized Hubble’s parameter given by Berman: Nuovo Cimento 74:182 (1983) which generates two types of solutions for the average scale factor, one is of power-law type and other is of the exponential-law form. Using these two forms, Einstein’s field equations are solved separately that correspond to expanding singular and non-singular models of the universe respectively. The dark energy EoS parameter ω is found to be time dependent and its existing range for both models is in good agreement with the three recent observations of (i) SNe Ia data (Knop et al.: Astrophys. J. 598:102 (2003)), (ii) SNe Ia data collaborated with CMBR anisotropy and galaxy clustering statistics (Tegmark et al.: Astrophys. J. 606:702 (2004)) and latest (iii) a combination of cosmological datasets coming from CMB anisotropies, luminosity distances of high redshift type Ia supernovae and galaxy clustering (Hinshaw et al.: Astrophys. J. Suppl. 180:225 (2009); Komatsu et al. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 180:330 (2009)). The cosmological constant Λ is found to be a positive decreasing function of time and it approaches a small positive value at late time (i.e. the present epoch) which is corroborated by results from recent supernovae Ia observations. The physical and geometric behaviour of the universe have also been discussed in detail.     

Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR) Observatory

The Single Aperture Far-InfraRed (SAFIR) Observatory’s science goals are driven by the fact that the earliest stages of almost all phenomena in the universe are shrouded in absorption by and emission from cool dust and gas that emits strongly in the far-infrared (40μ–200μ) and submillimeter (200μ–1 mm). In the very early universe, the warm gas of newly collapsing, unenriched galaxies will be revealed by molecular hydrogen emission lines at these long wavelengths. High redshift quasars are found to have substantial reservoirs of cool gas and dust, indicative of substantial metal enrichment early in the history of the universe. As a result, even early stages of galaxy formation will show powerful far-infrared emission. The combination of strong dust emission and large redshift (1 < z < 7) of these galaxies means that they can only be studied in the far-infrared and submillimeter. For nearby galaxies, many of the most active galaxies in the universe appear to be those whose gaseous disks are interacting in violent collisions. The details of these galaxies, including the effect of the central black holes that probably exist in most of them, are obscured to shorter wavelength optical and ultraviolet observatories by the large amounts of dust in their interstellar media. Within our own galaxy, the earliest stages of star formation, when gas and dust clouds are collapsing and the beginnings of a central star are taking shape, can only be observed in the far-infrared and submillimeter. The cold dust that ultimately forms the planetary systems, as well as the cool “debris” dust clouds that indicate the likelihood of planetary sized bodies around more developed stars, can only be observed at wavelengths longward of 20μ. Over the past several years, there has been an increasing recognition of the critical importance of the far-infrared to submillimeter spectral region to addressing fundamental astrophysical problems, ranging from cosmological questions to understanding how our own Solar System came into being. The development of large, far-infrared telescopes in space has become more feasible with the combination of developments for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of enabling breakthroughs in detector technology. We have developed a preliminary but comprehensive mission concept for SAFIR, as a 10 m-class far-infrared and submillimeter observatory that would begin development later in this decade to meet the needs outlined above. Its operating temperature (≤4 K) and instrument complement would be optimized to reach the natural sky confusion limit in the far-infrared with diffraction-limited performance down to at least the atmospheric cutoff, λ {>rsim} 40 {μ}. This would provide a point source sensitivity improvement of several orders of magnitude over that of the Spitzer Space Telescope (previously SIRTF) or the Herschel Space Observatory. Additionally, it would have an angular resolution 12 times finer than that of Spitzer and three times finer than Herschel. This sensitivity and angular resolution are necessary to perform imaging and spectroscopic studies of individual galaxies in the early universe. We have considered many aspects of the SAFIR mission, including the telescope technology (optical design, materials, and packaging), detector needs and technologies, cooling method and required technology developments, attitude and pointing, power systems, launch vehicle, and mission operations. The most challenging requirements for this mission are operating temperature and aperture size of the telescope, and the development of detector arrays. SAFIR can take advantage of much of the technology under development for JWST, but with much less stringent requirements on optical accuracy.     

The possibility of energy accumulation in a current sheet above the NOAA 9077 active region prior to the flare on 14 July 2000

Current sheet (CS) creation and energy accumulation above the NOAA 9077 active region have been numerically simulated. The magnetic spots are approximated by vertical dipoles placed under the photosphere, and the system of resistive 3D MHD equations is solved for compressible plasma with anisotropic thermal conduction. Two neutral magnetic lines are present in the corona above the NOAA 9077 active region, and a vertical CS emerges in the vicinity of one of them. The energy accumulated in this CS is about 5×10³² erg. The j×B/c force in it accelerates plasma upward. The other neutral line is not suitable for CS creation.     

Solar Wind Quasi-invariant for Slow and Fast Magnetic Clouds

The solar wind quasi-invariant (QI) has been defined by Osherovich, Fainberg, and Stone (Geophys. Res. Lett. 26, 2597, 1999) as the ratio of magnetic energy density and the energy density of the solar wind flow. In the regular solar wind QI is a rather small number, since the energy of the flow is almost two orders of magnitude greater than the magnetic energy. However, in magnetic clouds, QI is the order of unity (less than 1) and thus magnetic clouds can be viewed as a great anomaly in comparison with its value in the background solar wind. We study the duration, extent, and amplitude of this anomaly for two groups of isolated magnetic clouds: slow clouds (360<v<450 km s⁻¹) and fast clouds (450≤v<720 km s⁻¹). By applying the technique of superposition of epochs to 12 slow and 12 fast clouds from the catalog of Richardson and Cane (Solar Phys. 264, 189, 2010), we create an average slow cloud and an average fast cloud observed at 1 AU. From our analysis of these average clouds, we obtain cloud boundaries in both time and space as well as differences in QI amplitude and other parameters characterizing the solar wind state. Interplanetary magnetic clouds are known to cause major magnetic storms at the Earth, especially those clouds which travel from the sun to the Earth at high speeds. Characterizing each magnetic cloud by its QI value and extent may help in understanding the role of those disturbances in producing geomagnetic activity.     

A Si/CdTe Compton Camera for gamma-ray lens experiment

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) have been regarded as promising semiconductor materials for hard X-ray and γ-ray detection. However, a considerable amount of charge loss in these detectors results in a reduced energy resolution. We have achieved a significant improvement in the spectral properties by forming the Schottky junction on the Te side of the CdTe wafer. With the further reduction of leakage current by an adoption of guard ring structure, we have demonstrated a CdTe pixel detector with high energy resolution and full charge collection capabilty. The detector has a pixel size of a few mm and a thickness of 0.5 $-$ 1 mm. We apply this high resolution detector to a new silicon and CdTe Compton Camera which features high angular resolution. We also describe a concept of the stack detector which consists of many thin CdTe layers and provides sufficient efficiency for hard X-rays and gamma-rays up to several hundred keV maintaining good energy resolution. A narrow-FOV Compton telescope can be realized by installing a Si/CdTe Compton Camera inside the deep well of an active shield. This configuration is very suitable as focal plane detector for future focusing gamma-ray missions.     

On neutral sheets in the solar wind

The structure and dynamics of neutral sheets in the solar wind is examined. The internal magnetic topology of the sheet is argued to be that of thin magnetic tongues greatly distended outward by the expansion inside the sheet. Due to finite conductivity effects, outward flow takes place across field lines but is retarded relative to the ambient solar wind by the reverse J×B force. The sheet thickness as well as the internal transverse magnetic field are found to be proportional to the electrical conductivity to the inverse one third power. Estimating a conductivity appropriate for a current carried largely by the ions perpendicular to the magnetic field, we find sheet dimensions of the order of 500km representative for the inner solar corona. For a radial field of strength 1/2G at 2R , the transverse field there is about 2 × 10^–3G and decreases outward rapidly.The energy release in the form of Joulean dissipation inside the sheet is estimated. It is concluded that ohmic heating in current sheets is not a significant source of energy for the overall solar wind expansion, mainly because these structures occupy only a small percentage of the total coronal volume. However, the local energy release through this mechanism is found to be large - in fact, over 7 times that expected to be supplied by thermal conduction. Therefore, ohmic heating is probably a dominant energy source for the dynamical conditions within the sheet itself.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Numerical Simulation of a Solar Active Region. I: Bastille Day Flare

We present three-dimensional unsteady modeling and numerical simulations of a coronal active region, carried out within the compressible single-fluid MHD approximation. We focus on AR 9077 on 14 July 2000, and the triggering of the X5.7 GOES X-ray class “Bastille Day” flare. We simulate only the lower corona, although we include a virtual photosphere and chromosphere below. The boundary conditions at the base of this layer are set using temperature maps from line intensities and line-of-sight magnetograms (SOHO/MDI). From the latter, we generate vector magnetograms using the force-free approximation; these vector magnetograms are then used to produce the boundary condition on the velocity field using a minimum energy principle (Longcope, Astrophys. J. 612, 1181, 2004). The reconnection process is modeled through a dynamical hyper-resistivity which is activated when the current exceeds a critical value (Klimas et al., J. Geophys. Res. 109, 2218, 2004). Comparing the time series of X-ray fluxes recorded by GOES with modeled time series of various mean physical variables such as current density, Poynting energy flux, or radiative loss inside the active region, we can demonstrate that the model properly captures the evolution of an active region over a day and, in particular, is able to explain the initiation of the flare at the observed time.     

EIT: Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope for the SOHO mission

The Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) will provide wide-field images of the corona and transition region on the solar disc and up to 1.5 R above the solar limb. Its normal incidence multilayer-coated optics will select spectral emission lines from Fe IX (171 ), Fe XII (195 ), Fe XV (284 ), and He II (304 ) to provide sensitive temperature diagnostics in the range from 6 × 10⁴ K to 3 × 10⁶ K. The telescope has a 45 x 45 arcmin field of view and 2.6 arcsec pixels which will provide approximately 5-arcsec spatial resolution. The EIT will probe the coronal plasma on a global scale, as well as the underlying cooler and turbulent atmosphere, providing the basis for comparative analyses with observations from both the ground and other SOHO instruments. This paper presents details of the EIT instrumentation, its performance and operating modes.