Processing the Yohkoh Movies


The original data

The original data, in the form of raw (and later, processed) Yohkoh SXT CCD images, are transferred via anonymous ftp from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Japan to the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL) in the U.S. Here, they are read using part of an extensive package of Yohkoh processing and analysis software written in the proprietary language IDL from Research Systems in Boulder, Colorado.

A series of still images

Using IDL, each 256 x 256-pixel CCD frame is scaled and transformed to a color GIF image. (The raw data also has to have background subtracted, including the removal of "hot" CCD pixels - see the YPOP movie maker page for more info).

Home at last

The resulting binary files are used to generate an MPEG movie (one for each orbit) and placed online for your perusal.


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