All articles tagged with #suns surface
The NSF's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope captured the sharpest images of the sun's surface, revealing ultra-fine magnetic 'curtains' or striations in the photosphere, which are signatures of subtle magnetic fluctuations crucial for understanding solar phenomena like flares and eruptions.
New high-resolution images of the Sun's corona, achieved through advanced adaptive optics technology, reveal unprecedented fine structures, potentially unlocking answers to longstanding questions like the coronal heating problem and solar eruptions. This breakthrough, led by the National Solar Observatory, enhances ground-based solar observation capabilities and promises to revolutionize solar physics research.
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has captured the highest resolution images of the sun's surface, revealing detailed views of the photosphere and sunspots. These images, taken from 45 million miles away, show the sun's dynamic surface and magnetic fields, which are concentrated around sunspots, affecting plasma convection and temperature. The spacecraft also provided a tachogram showing the sun's rotation and material movement, and images of the corona, highlighting solar wind origins. This mission, a collaboration between ESA and NASA, aims to provide unprecedented views of the sun's poles by 2025.
A massive "sunspot archipelago" wider than 15 Earths has appeared on the sun's nearside to Earth, unleashing solar storms and flares. The sunspot region, spanning 125,000 miles across, has already produced 16 C-class and 3 M-class solar flares in the last 4 days. Experts warn that more flares, including potentially X-class flares, could occur in the coming weeks, along with coronal mass ejections that may trigger geomagnetic storms on Earth. This is a sign that the sun is approaching its solar maximum, the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
An enormous "sunspot archipelago" has emerged on the sun's nearside to Earth, spanning over 125,000 miles and being 15 times wider than Earth. This sunspot region has already unleashed multiple solar flares and could potentially produce more in the coming weeks, including the strongest type of solar flare. These flares may also give rise to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that could impact Earth, causing geomagnetic storms and aurora displays. The emergence of these sunspots indicates that the sun is approaching its solar maximum, the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
Close-up images captured by the Solar Orbiter during its perihelion passage in October 2022 have revealed how small, fleeting magnetic fields on the Sun's surface contribute to the formation of the solar corona. These images show that loops of million-degree gas in the corona are associated with small patches of magnetic fields on the surface. The observations provide valuable insights into the role of small-scale magnetic fields in the development of the Sun's hot atmosphere. Solar Orbiter is set to make another close pass of the Sun in October 2023, allowing for further detailed observations of these processes.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has provided valuable data that explains how the sun's wind, composed of ionized particles or plasma, can reach speeds exceeding 1 million miles per hour. Researchers discovered that the energy released from the magnetic field near the sun's surface drives the fast solar wind, which carries plasma and part of the sun's magnetic field. Understanding this mechanism could help predict solar eruptions, enhance our knowledge of cosmic wind phenomena, and aid in the search for habitable planets. The findings also have practical implications for Earth, as they could improve our ability to understand and mitigate the impact of geomagnetic storms on communication networks and power grids.