Solar Orbiter detects "bonfires" in the Sun

Solar Orbiter detects "bonfires" in the Sun
Solar Orbiter detects "bonfires" in the Sun
Anonim

The meeting of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft with the Sun made it possible to make the first interesting discoveries even before the official launch of the mission's scientific program. By the way, no one has ever observed our star, being so close to it.

Recall that the Solar Orbiter probe was launched on February 10, 2020. The device carries on board four instruments for studying the surrounding solar wind and six for observing the Sun and its surroundings at a distance.

By the way, about the distances. The orbit of the probe has a section that runs very close to the star. At the same time, it also changes from turn to turn, so that with each revolution the apparatus will come closer and closer to the star.

The first approach to the Sun took place in mid-June 2020. Even then, the Solar Orbiter was closer to the luminary than any other apparatus capable of observing our star. (The Parker probe got closer, but it does not survey the disk of the star itself, but only the solar wind and the sun's corona).

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Despite the difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, by the time of the date with the Sun, all the scientific instruments of the probe were turned on, tested and adjusted.

By the way, the researchers just wanted to make sure the hardware was working. They did not expect to receive any new data of scientific value until November 2021 (when the mission's official scientific program begins). But the images obtained exceeded all expectations, and the first discovery had already been made.

Scientists owe them to the EUI ultraviolet camera, which received incredibly detailed images of the sun. It turned out that the star is literally littered with structures that astronomers have called bonfires.

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Arrows indicate "bonfires" found on the Sun.

Illustration by Solar Orbiter / EUI Team (ESA, NASA); CSL, IAS, MPS, PMOD / WRC, ROB, UCL / MSSL.

They are so small compared to the sun's disk that they could not be distinguished in less detailed images. These ubiquitous "bonfires" are shown in the animation below, compiled from many individual images.

Possibly, "bonfires" are nanoflares (miniature semblance of ordinary solar flares). Many theorists suggest that it is this phenomenon that heats the Sun's corona to several million degrees. But until now, observers have been able to provide only indirect evidence of the existence of nanoflares. And now, perhaps, scientists have seen them with their own eyes.

A new portion of data from the probe should help determine the temperature of the "fires" and clarify their nature.

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A visible light photograph of the Sun taken by the PHI camera aboard the Solar Orbiter.

The probe's other instruments also did not disappoint the researchers. Astronomers have obtained magnificent images of the solar corona, "scans" of the solar magnetic field, and so on.

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Images of the Sun taken by various instruments of the Solar Orbiter.

All in all, the start of the Solar Orbiter mission can rightfully be called brilliant. One can only guess what discoveries lie ahead of us.

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