Be Amazed at “Unprecedented” New Sun Images

The European Space Agency recently released new images of the Sun, courtesy of Solar Orbiter. This spacecraft skirted the Sun and gave us an unprecedented look at some of the highest resolution images. Using the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), the Solar Orbiter captured breathtaking photos of our brightest star’s entire disk and atmosphere.

On March 7, ESA’s spacecraft went at a distance of 75 million kilometers (or 46.6 million miles) to do its job. This is about half the distance between the Earth’s average orbit and the Sun. This was deemed the ideal stretch to take its needed 25 different images. 

Each image required an almost 10-minute exposure that the scientists would then stitch into one full mosaic image. The result is a feast for the eyes of astronomy fans: a fully zoomable image of our home star. It’s a mosaic measuring 9,148 by 9,112 pixels of the Sun in all its glory or 83 million pixels of solar greatness.

The image lets you see the Sun like never before. You can see fine details of its surface and its corona or atmosphere. The images allow us to take a deeper look at solar prominences on the Sun’s edges. These occurrences sometimes erupt, resulting in the ejection of massive amounts of plasma into space.

The Solar Orbiter

The EUI is only one of the many tools of the Solar Orbiter. It is capable of looking at different wavelengths, which is crucial when studying our home star as varying atoms emit light in many different ways. Another instrument, the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE), is designed to capture those minute, granular details. 

So, these two instruments worked side by side as the Solar Orbiter skimmed the surface of the Sun. As with the EUI, SPICE also gathered mosaics of its own. It has collected data in four ultraviolet wavelengths, all in the extremes. These wavelengths are as follows:

• 102.5 nanometers, emitted by hydrogen at 10,000° Celsius or 18,000° Fahrenheit
• 97.7 nanometers, emitted by carbon at 32,000° Celsius or 57,632° Fahrenheit
• 103.2 nanometers, emitted by oxygen at 320,000° Celsius or 576,032° Fahrenheit
• 77.0 nanometers, emitted by neon at 630,000° Celsius or 1,134,032° Fahrenheit

Launched in February 2020, the Solar Orbiter was explicitly designed to get detailed measurements of the Sun and its poles. This was previously impossible to get from Earth, so this is a welcome innovation.

Aside from orbiting the Sun 19 times more, it will do another mission of doing a flyby to Venus to collect velocity in gravity assist maneuvers. Its first perihelion was on March 26 and will do another next year. The Solar Orbiter will get even closer to the Sun during this time, hopefully bringing back more spectacular photos.

The First of Its Kind

The Solar Orbiter’s new Sun image is the first in almost 50 years. It is the first full image and possibly the best, more than enough to keep scientists happy and busy for years to come.

Surprisingly, the Sun’s temperature of about 5,000 degrees Celsius can only be felt from the surface. The hotter temperatures happen farther from it, which is a mystery scientists are currently resolving. This may be precisely why the Solar Orbiter would be valuable in further studies of our star.

These images can significantly help scientists get a better understanding of solar eruptions. Information gathered from studies of these phenomena will prove helpful to humanity as these eruptions happen in the direction of Earth. The collision of solar particles with our home planet may result in geomagnetic storms that can hinder or interfere with the daily operations of some technologies.