Multimedia gallery
Films and animations about the Picard satellite and its results
Helioseismology and Picard’s contribution to it
Mpeg-4 format, size ~600 Mb (in French)
Picard 2013 science workshop presentations
SODISM-II Ca II images acquired at 393 nm in Calern during summer 2012 and 2013
![]() ISODISM-II images acquired between April and October 2012 | ![]() ISODISM-II images acquired between April and September 2013 |
See related article on the Côte d'Azur Observatory website.
Measuring solar flattening: history of measurements, science goals and results
Measuring solar flatteningMP4 format - 108 Mb (in French)
Animation of SODISM images acquired during solar eclipse at wavelength of 535 nm on 13 November 2012
Picard science workshop 10 April 2012 at CNES in Paris
Transits of Venus in front of the Sun and first SODISM images
![]() History of Venus transits seen by man from Galileo to Picard © CNRS - CNES ![]() | ![]() Animation of Venus transit in front of the Sun ![]() |
![]() New images of the Sun acquired by the SODISM instrument High resolution, AVI format ~26.5 Mb or MBV format ~23 MbLow resolution, AVI format ~2.4 Mb or MBV format ~2.7 Mb |
Films explaining the goals of the Picard mission
Understanding the goals of the Picard mission QuickTime format, low or medium resolution ~ 192 or 277 Mb © CNRS – CNES
(in French)
Launch of the Picard satellite in dual configuration with the Swedish PRISMA satellite
Launch of the Picard satellite in dual configuration with the Swedish PRISMA satellite by a DNEPR launch vehicle
MP4 format, size ~6.5 Mb
Ciel & Espace magazine podcasts
"Picard: a satellite to measure the Sun’s diameter” (parts 1, 2 and 3)
By François Buisson, CNES Picard project leader, and Gérard Thuillier, Picard mission science lead, INSU/CNRS/LATMOS (in French)
Unbelievable though it may seem, in 2010 we still didn’t know the Sun’s exact diameter. Since Jean Picard first measured it precisely in the 17th century, when the Sun had very few sunspots, observations during solar eclipses and with ground and space telescopes had not been able to resolve the enigma that still defied specialists studying our star: Are the Sun’s diameter and activity related?
In particular, as questions are being raised about the value of data from climate prediction models, what causes the Sun’s variability and what effects does it have on Earth’s climate?
With big questions like these, the Picard microsatellite developed by CNES had big ambitions. Like Demeter and Parasol before it, Picard acquired new measurements for scientists, from the ground and from space.