First Results from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager on GOES-16

The Solar Ultraviolet Imager, launched November 19, 2016, on the GOES-16 spacecraft, is the first in a line of four identical instruments that will image the Sun’s atmosphere in the extreme ultraviolet for the next 20 years. SUVI’s six passbands — 94, 131, 171, 195, 284, and 304 Å — provide images of the solar chromosphere and corona over a temperature range from about 50,000 K to 10 million K. SUVI’s primary mission is to support space weather forecasting operations at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, but its unique properties — most notably its relatively large large 53×53 arcmin field of view — offer several opportunities for new research. These unique opportunities include the both study of the large-scale structure of the solar corona and the process of magnetic reconnection that powers solar flares and eruptions. Here, we will present an overview the instrument and its capabilities, ways to access its data, and some highlights from its early results.