The highest-resolution image yet of our home star has been delivered by a spacecraft that skimmed the Sun.
On 7 March, the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter took a picture at a distance of just 75 million kilometers.
The full image had to be constructed from 25 different images taken at that distance. The result is a 9,148 by 9,112 screen resolution. That is 83 million pieces of solar magnificence.
The result is amazing, a fully zoomable image that allows you to see the solar surface and corona, including several solar eruptions that can cause massive amounts of space junk.
If the image is not for you, please click this link to zoom in.
The EUI is one of the instruments. It is helpful to look at a range of wavelengths when studying the Sun. While the EUI was looking at the Sun, the SPICE instrument was collecting mosaics of its own.
The data was collected in four extreme ultraviolet wavelength: 102.5 nanometers, emitted by hydrogen at 10,000 degrees Celsius, 98.7 nanometers, emitted by carbon at 32,000 degrees Celsius, and 103.2 nanometers, emitted by oxygen at 320,000 degrees Celsius.
The hydrogen image is the first full image of the Sun of its kind in 50 years, so you can guarantee solar scientists are going to be bouncing in their seats to study it.
There are mosaics of the Sun. The NASA/Solar Orbiter/SPICE team is part of theESA.
Solar physicists have been trying to figure out why the Sun's temperature is only 5,000 degrees Celsius. High resolution images taken by the Solar Orbiter might help.
Scientists will be able to better understand solar eruptions. When the Sun erupts in the direction of Earth, the collision of solar particles with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere can cause a storm that can interfere with day-to-day operations of some technologies.
Two years ago, in February 2020, the Solar Orbiter launched and is designed to take detailed measurements of the Sun that are impossible to obtain from Earth. It will be swooping in close to the Sun at least 19 times, flying out to Venus at several points during its mission to collect velocity in gravity assist maneuvers.
It was just 48 million kilometers away from the star when it completed its first perihelion. It should have collected the first data on the solar poles and the solar wind.
The next perihelion will take place next year, and at that point the orbiter will be even closer to the Sun. We hope the first images from the first perihelion are even better, and we can't wait to see what the little craft will do in the months and years to come.
You can get a high-resolution version of the image at the website.
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