• This site is a private, non-commercial website. As such, you're welcome here as long as you were invited. If you would like an invite, reach out to Cliff Spark

Can I offer you a nice image of the Sun in these trying times?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ian Carlos Campbell
  • Start date Start date
I

Ian Carlos Campbell

The joint ESA and NASA Solar Orbiter mission has delivered a stunning new image of the Sun and its corona. The sun-observing satellite originally launched in 2020, and besides making the Sun look cool, the data it's captured has impacted things like our understanding of solar wind.

Today's photo shows off the spun-sugar-like particles caught in the magnetic field of the Sun's atmosphere, the dark "filaments" of cooler material weaving their way in between and bursting active areas that emit solar flares. The ESA says the photo is technically a composite of 200 separate images taken with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, around 77 million km from the Sun. The EUI allows the traditionally unobservable parts of the Sun's atmosphere or corona to be visible in photographs.

A complete image of the Sun captured by the Solar Orbiter satellite.

ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, E. Kraaikamp (ROB)

Solar Orbiter has regularly provided a clear look at our closest star, and even offered insights into Venus as it made its way to its current position observing the Sun. For more details on the image, and interactive labels explaining the different regions of the Sun, check out the ESA website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at Can I offer you a nice image of the Sun in these trying times?

Continue reading...
 
Back
Top