It looks up the Helioviewer API for the data source matching the given keyword (e.g. hmi_continuum), fetches the image closest to the requested time, and saves it as a PNG in the current directory.

Usage

./helioviewer_grab.py 2026-08-12T18:18:00Z hmi_continuum
./helioviewer_grab.py --list    # show all available data sources
./helioviewer_grab.py --sources # short explanation of the most useful ones

Without arguments, example values are used (see the docstring in the script).

--sources prints a curated, human-readable description for the most commonly used sources (AIA wavelengths, HMI, GONG H-alpha), what each one shows and roughly how detailed it is. For full-disk imaging, SDO/HMI (0.5"/px) and SDO/AIA (0.6"/px) offer the highest resolution among the continuously available sources.

Here's a list of all available sources:

   0  SOHO/EIT/171                              EIT 171
   1  SOHO/EIT/195                              EIT 195
   2  SOHO/EIT/284                              EIT 284
   3  SOHO/EIT/304                              EIT 304
   4  SOHO/LASCO/C2/white-light                 LASCO C2
   5  SOHO/LASCO/C3/white-light                 LASCO C3
   6  SOHO/MDI/magnetogram                      MDI Mag
   7  SOHO/MDI/continuum                        MDI Int
   8  SDO/AIA/94                                AIA 94
   9  SDO/AIA/131                               AIA 131
  10  SDO/AIA/171                               AIA 171
  11  SDO/AIA/193                               AIA 193
  12  SDO/AIA/211                               AIA 211
  13  SDO/AIA/304                               AIA 304
  14  SDO/AIA/335                               AIA 335
  15  SDO/AIA/1600                              AIA 1600
  16  SDO/AIA/1700                              AIA 1700
  17  SDO/AIA/4500                              AIA 4500
  18  SDO/HMI/continuum                         HMI Int
  19  SDO/HMI/magnetogram                       HMI Mag
  20  STEREO_A/SECCHI/EUVI/171                  EUVI-A 171
  21  STEREO_A/SECCHI/EUVI/195                  EUVI-A 195
  22  STEREO_A/SECCHI/EUVI/284                  EUVI-A 284
  23  STEREO_A/SECCHI/EUVI/304                  EUVI-A 304
  24  STEREO_B/SECCHI/EUVI/171                  EUVI-B 171
  25  STEREO_B/SECCHI/EUVI/195                  EUVI-B 195
  26  STEREO_B/SECCHI/EUVI/284                  EUVI-B 284
  27  STEREO_B/SECCHI/EUVI/304                  EUVI-B 304
  28  STEREO_A/SECCHI/COR1/white-light          COR1-A
  29  STEREO_A/SECCHI/COR2/white-light          COR2-A
  30  STEREO_B/SECCHI/COR1/white-light          COR1-B
  31  STEREO_B/SECCHI/COR2/white-light          COR2-B
  32  PROBA2/SWAP/174                           SWAP 174
  33  Yohkoh/SXT/AlMgMn                         SXT AlMgMn
  34  Yohkoh/SXT/thin-Al                        SXT thin-Al
  35  Yohkoh/SXT/white-light                    SXT white-light
  39  Hinode/XRT/Al_med/Al_thick                XRT Al_med/Al_thick
  40  Hinode/XRT/Al_med/Be_thick                XRT Al_med/Be_thick
  42  Hinode/XRT/Al_med/Open                    XRT Al_med/Open
  43  Hinode/XRT/Al_med/Ti_poly                 XRT Al_med/Ti_poly
  44  Hinode/XRT/Al_poly/Al_mesh                XRT Al_poly/Al_mesh
  45  Hinode/XRT/Al_poly/Al_thick               XRT Al_poly/Al_thick
  46  Hinode/XRT/Al_poly/Be_thick               XRT Al_poly/Be_thick
  48  Hinode/XRT/Al_poly/Open                   XRT Al_poly/Open
  49  Hinode/XRT/Al_poly/Ti_poly                XRT Al_poly/Ti_poly
  54  Hinode/XRT/Be_med/Open                    XRT Be_med/Open
  60  Hinode/XRT/Be_thin/Open                   XRT Be_thin/Open
  62  Hinode/XRT/C_poly/Al_mesh                 XRT C_poly/Al_mesh
  63  Hinode/XRT/C_poly/Al_thick                XRT C_poly/Al_thick
  66  Hinode/XRT/C_poly/Open                    XRT C_poly/Open
  67  Hinode/XRT/C_poly/Ti_poly                 XRT C_poly/Ti_poly
  69  Hinode/XRT/Open/Al_mesh                   XRT Open/Al_mesh
  70  Hinode/XRT/Open/Al_thick                  XRT Open/Al_thick
  71  Hinode/XRT/Open/Be_thick                  XRT Open/Be_thick
  74  Hinode/XRT/Open/Ti_poly                   XRT Open/Ti_poly
  75  TRACE/171                                 TRACE 171
  76  TRACE/195                                 TRACE 195
  77  TRACE/284                                 TRACE 284
  78  TRACE/1216                                TRACE 1216
  79  TRACE/1550                                TRACE 1550
  80  TRACE/1600                                TRACE 1600
  81  TRACE/1700                                TRACE 1700
  82  TRACE/white-light                         TRACE white-light
  83  MLSO/COSMO/KCor/735                       COSMO KCor
  84  SOLO/EUI/FSI/174                          EUI FSI 174
  85  SOLO/EUI/FSI/304                          EUI FSI 304
  86  SOLO/EUI/HRI/174                          EUI HRI 174
  87  SOLO/EUI/HRI/1216                         EUI HRI 1216
  88  IRIS/SJI/1330                             IRIS SJI 1330
  89  IRIS/SJI/2796                             IRIS SJI 2796
  90  IRIS/SJI/1400                             IRIS SJI 1400
  92  IRIS/SJI/2832                             IRIS SJI 2832
  94  GONG/GONG/H-alpha/6562                    GONG H-alpha
  95  RHESSI/3-6keV/Back Projection             RHESSI
  96  RHESSI/6-12keV/Back Projection            RHESSI
  97  RHESSI/12-25keV/Back Projection           RHESSI
  98  RHESSI/25-50keV/Back Projection           RHESSI
  99  RHESSI/50-100keV/Back Projection          RHESSI
 100  RHESSI/100-300keV/Back Projection         RHESSI
 101  RHESSI/3-6keV/Clean                       RHESSI
 102  RHESSI/6-12keV/Clean                      RHESSI
 103  RHESSI/12-25keV/Clean                     RHESSI
 104  RHESSI/25-50keV/Clean                     RHESSI
 105  RHESSI/50-100keV/Clean                    RHESSI
 106  RHESSI/100-300keV/Clean                   RHESSI
 107  RHESSI/3-6keV/Clean 59                    RHESSI
 108  RHESSI/6-12keV/Clean 59                   RHESSI
 109  RHESSI/12-25keV/Clean 59                  RHESSI
 110  RHESSI/25-50keV/Clean 59                  RHESSI
 111  RHESSI/50-100keV/Clean 59                 RHESSI
 112  RHESSI/100-300keV/Clean 59                RHESSI
 113  RHESSI/3-6keV/MEM GE                      RHESSI
 114  RHESSI/6-12keV/MEM GE                     RHESSI
 115  RHESSI/12-25keV/MEM GE                    RHESSI
 116  RHESSI/25-50keV/MEM GE                    RHESSI
 117  RHESSI/50-100keV/MEM GE                   RHESSI
 118  RHESSI/100-300keV/MEM GE                  RHESSI
 119  RHESSI/3-6keV/VIS CS                      RHESSI
 120  RHESSI/6-12keV/VIS CS                     RHESSI
 121  RHESSI/12-25keV/VIS CS                    RHESSI
 122  RHESSI/25-50keV/VIS CS                    RHESSI
 123  RHESSI/50-100keV/VIS CS                   RHESSI
 124  RHESSI/100-300keV/VIS CS                  RHESSI
 125  RHESSI/3-6keV/VIS FWDFIT                  RHESSI
 126  RHESSI/6-12keV/VIS FWDFIT                 RHESSI
 127  RHESSI/12-25keV/VIS FWDFIT                RHESSI
 128  RHESSI/25-50keV/VIS FWDFIT                RHESSI
 129  RHESSI/50-100keV/VIS FWDFIT               RHESSI
 130  RHESSI/100-300keV/VIS FWDFIT              RHESSI
 131  PUNCH/WFI+NFI/Total Brightness            PUNCH
 132  GOES/CCOR-1/CCOR-1/white-light            GOES CCOR-1
 134  PUNCH/WFI+NFI/Polarized Brightness        PUNCH
2000  GOES/SUVI/94                              SUVI 94
2001  GOES/SUVI/131                             SUVI 131
2002  GOES/SUVI/171                             SUVI 171
2003  GOES/SUVI/195                             SUVI 195
2004  GOES/SUVI/284                             SUVI 284
2005  GOES/SUVI/304                             SUVI 304
10001  Hinode/XRT/Any/Any                        XRT Any/Any
10002  Hinode/XRT/Any/Al_mesh                    XRT Any/Al_mesh
10003  Hinode/XRT/Any/Al_thick                   XRT Any/Al_thick
10004  Hinode/XRT/Any/Be_thick                   XRT Any/Be_thick
10005  Hinode/XRT/Any/Gband                      XRT Any/Gband
10006  Hinode/XRT/Any/Open                       XRT Any/Open
10007  Hinode/XRT/Any/Ti_poly                    XRT Any/Ti_poly
10008  Hinode/XRT/Al_med/Any                     XRT Al_med/Any
10009  Hinode/XRT/Al_poly/Any                    XRT Al_poly/Any
10010  Hinode/XRT/Be_med/Any                     XRT Be_med/Any
10011  Hinode/XRT/Be_thin/Any                    XRT Be_thin/Any
10012  Hinode/XRT/C_poly/Any                     XRT C_poly/Any
10013  Hinode/XRT/Open/Any                       XRT Open/Any

Requirements

Only the Python standard library, no dependencies. With devenv, the right interpreter is available right away:

devenv shell

Author

Aaron Schmocker aaron@0x29a.ch