The Sun’s new high-resolution images show just how awesome its structure is

Europe’s largest solar telescope unveiled Close-up images The sun – and they’re a little scary. Gregor, a telescope operated by a team of German scientists at Spain’s Ted Observatory, has obtained new high-resolution images of the Sun’s intricate composition – the best ever captured by a European telescope, scientists said.

Researchers attributed the unseen images to the redesign of a telescope at the Leibniz Institute of Solar Physics (KIS) by scientists and engineers. The new optics allows scientists to study magnetic fields, convection, instability, solar explosions and sunspots in more detail than ever before.

Scientists say that using Gregor, they could study details as small as 300 miles on the surface of the sun – a tiny fraction of its 656565,000-mile diameter. “It’s like someone saw a needle in a soccer field from a distance of about a kilometer.”

The sun is prone to numerous phenomena, from sunspots to solar storms and flares – many of which run through its intense magnetic field. Not much is understood about the magnetic field itself, so up-close images of the sun’s surface are crucial to revealing its complexities.

The photos show details of sunspot evolution and complex compositions in solar plasma “surprising”, the researchers said. Sunspots temporarily fall into darker areas due to a decrease in surface temperature due to the flow of a magnetic field.

“This was a very exciting, but extremely challenging project. In just one year, we designed the optics, mechanics and electronics to achieve the best possible quality,” said Dr. Lucia Clint said in a news release. Release.

The team’s research was initially halted due to coronavirus lockdown, but researchers said they were eager to return to the lab when Spain reopened in July.

By learning about the sun’s magnetic field, scientists will be able to give better advice on how to protect technology from satellites and our planet from solar activity.

Dr. Director of KIS. Svetlana Bardugina said the project was more risky than that because such telescope upgrades usually take years, but the team’s great performance and careful planning have led to this success. “We now have a powerful tool for solving puzzles on the sun.”