New high-resolution images of the Sun have been discovered, taken at a distance of 74 million kilometers.

Solar Orbiter mission led European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with POTmanaged to catch the most detailed images to date of the visible surface of the Sun and its outer atmosphere.

These photos, taken in March 2023 and only now processed, give a glimpse of unprecedented insight into the dynamics of the Sun’s magnetic fieldsunspots and bright plasma that make up our star.

Although the Sun appears to be an inert and motionless body, it is in fact dynamic and complex, which It generates energy through nuclear processes in its core. Its influence extends beyond its immediate orbit, affecting Earth and the entire solar system with phenomena such as the solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

Understanding these processes is critical to predicting their impact on our planet, and missions like Solar Orbiter are designed to unravel these mysteries.

The high-resolution images were captured by two key instruments on board the spacecraft: Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) and Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI). While PHI takes images in visible light, measuring the direction of the magnetic field and mapping the movement of plasma on the Sun’s surface, EUI provides a perspective of the corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, by capturing images in ultraviolet light.

“The Sun’s magnetic field is fundamental to understanding the dynamic nature of our star, from the smallest to the largest scales. These New high-resolution maps show the beauty of the Sun’s surface magnetic field and its fluxes in exquisite detail.“,” emphasized Daniel Müller, a scientist on the Solar Orbiter project.

“At the same time, they are crucial for determining the magnetic field in the hot corona of the Sun, which our EUI instrument detects,” Müller emphasized.

When PHI images are enlarged, the solar surface, known as the photosphere, appears as a layer of hot, glowing plasma in constant motion. This layer emits almost all solar radiation reaching the Earth and has a temperature of 4500 to 6000 degrees Celsius.

Beneath the photosphere is a convection zone where denser plasma bubbles, similar to magma in the Earth’s mantle. This movement generates grainy pattern on the surface of the Sun, a feature visible in high-resolution images that provides insight into the inner workings of our star.

One of the highlights of the images are sunspots, which appear as dark regions of the photosphere. Are spots are colder places because the sun’s magnetic field interrupts the flow of heat from the inside to the surface.

The PHI magnetogram shows how the magnetic field is concentrated in these areas, pointing inward or outward depending on the polarity. Charged particles moving along magnetic field lines. Inside sunspots, they block the normal movement of convection, creating the conditions for their dark appearance.

Above these spots, EUI images show superheated plasma that aligns with magnetic field lines, often connecting adjacent spots and offering greater insight into the interaction between plasma and magnetism.

PHI also provides velocity maps, known as tachograms, which show how plasma moves across the Sun’s surface. In these images, blue areas represent movement toward the spacecraft, and red areas represent movement away from the spacecraft.

Although Plasma tends to rotate around the Sun’s axis. Sunspots create disturbances in this flow, pushing plasma outward and creating unique patterns that help scientists better understand the dynamics of our star.

Obtaining these images required a labor-intensive process. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft was 74 million kilometers from the Sun when he took photographs, the distance, although significant, was small compared to the scale of the solar system. Thanks to this proximity, Each image captured covered only a small part of the solar disk.

To complete the images of the Sun, the spacecraft was tilted and rotated for more than four hours, capturing 25 individual images that were then assembled into a mosaic.. This mosaic, nearly 8,000 pixels in diameter, reveals details that were previously impossible to observe.

Processing the images was a major technical challenge, but the success of this work was a major milestone in solar exploration. In the future, the Solar Orbiter team plans to create high-resolution mosaics twice a year, which will allow them to track changes in the behavior of the Sun in more detail.

These observations are needed not only to better understand the Sun, but also to predict solar events that may affect Earth, such as geomagnetic storms damaging satellites and power grids.

From launch in 2020 Solar Orbiter sought to unravel the mysteries of the Sun using modern sensors operating at different wavelengths. In addition to obtaining high-resolution images, the mission is studying the mechanisms of the solar wind and coronal mass ejections, phenomena that directly affect the space environment near our planet.

The mission was already able to release full images of the Sun in March 2022, but the recent images represent significant progress in terms of resolution and detail. These images allow us to “peel back the layers” of the Sun and better understand the relationships between its photosphere, corona and other key components.

New images They not only give an idea of ​​the technical complexity of the mission, but also They invite us to reflect on our relationship with the Sun. This star, the source of light and heat for our planet, is a constant reminder of the relationship between cosmic processes and life on Earth.

Observing details of the Sun’s surface and atmosphere can raise deep questions about life, evolution and our place in the Universe. As ESA notes, these images invite us to explore the origins of the solar system and the forces shaping our cosmic environment.

Solar Orbiter continues to demonstrate its value as the most important scientific instrument for studying the Sun. With each image and data collected, scientists deepen their understanding of solar processes and their impacts in space and on Earth.

The mission is expected to continue to reveal interesting details about our star in the coming years, marking the “before” and “after” of solar exploration. Meanwhile, these images allow us to admire the beauty and complexity of the Sun, reminding us of the vastness of the Universe and our connection to it.