A European and POT The spacecraft has sent the closest images ever taken of the sun’s surface. They show that the surface has thousands of small solar flares, or what scientists call “bonfires”.
Scientists published the first images taken by Solar Orbiter last week. The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in February.
The orbiter was about 77 million km from the sun, halfway between Earth and the sun, when it took the images.
Solar Orbiter images are the first images from so close to the sun’s surface. Show color swirls – bright yellow and dark gray.
Daniel Müller is a project scientist at the European Space Agency. He told The Associated Press (AP) that the research team had to create a new term for small flares: bonfires.
Müller described the many “bonfires” as quite possibly “the small cousins from solar flares that we already know about. “
These small eruptions could help explain why the sun’s outer shell, the corona, is 300 times hotter than the star’s surface. But scientists are waiting for more information from other Solar Orbiter instruments to be sure.
David Berghmans is with the Royal Observatory of Belgium. He was the main scientist who developed the instrument that took the images. Berghmans told AP that “when the first images appeared, my first thought was, ‘This is not possible, it cannot be that good.'”
He added: “It was really much better than we expected, but what dared wait “.
The $ 1.5 billion spacecraft will move even closer to the sun’s surface in the next two years. The spacecraft will change its orbit as mission happens. This will allow Solar Orbiter to take the first images of the solar. poles.
Solar Orbiter also carries plasma-sampling instruments to provide researchers with additional information about the sun.
Project scientist Holly Gilbert notes, “That combination [of instruments] It really allows us to make links and connections to what happens in the sun and what happens on the spacecraft. “
Gilbert is with NASA, the United States government civil space program.
Solar Orbiter’s primary mission of examining the sun’s polar areas will help researchers understand the causes of the solar wind: electrically charged particles that traverse our solar system. The solar wind can affect satellites and electronics on Earth.
“This is just the beginning of Solar Orbiter’s long epic journey,” said Müller.
I’m John Russell
The Associated Press and Reuters reported this story. John Russell adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in this story
POT – n. short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the government agency responsible for the U.S. civil space program.
solar flare – n. a brief burst of radiation from the sun’s surface
swirl – v. flow or move, like the wind, in the space of a circle
cousin – n. something related to another
dare – v. be brave enough to face or do something; not being too afraid to do something
mission – n. an important trip or project
pole – n. one of two or areas in a magnetized field; either of the two related opposites
plasma – n. a technical substance that is similar to a gas but can carry electricity
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