Updated: July 18, 2020 11:26:37 am
(Image: Solar Orbiter / EUI Team (ESA & NASA); CSL, IAS, MPS, PMOD / WRC, ROB, UCL / MSSL)
The solar orbiter, which is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), has submitted its first photos of the Sun, with which scientists have identified a new phenomenon they call ‘bonfires’. The first photos have been delayed a bit because ESA had paused the spacecraft’s commissioning process due to limited personnel during the initial spread of COVID-19. However, ESA soon resumed commissioning in preparation for the spacecraft’s first loop around the Sun.
“To be honest, I didn’t dare expect anything,” David Berghmans, a space physicist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium and principal investigator of one of the instruments aboard the Solar Orbiter, said during a press conference.
“It’s surprising in the smallest details how many things are happening there,” Berghmans said. “We couldn’t believe it when we first saw this and started giving it crazy names like bonfires and dark fibrils and ghosts and whatever we saw. There are so many new small phenomena occurring on the smallest scale. “
When the solar orbiter took these photos, it was 77 million km from the Sun. This is about half the distance Earth orbits. NASA and ESA claim that at the end of the mission, the orbiter will cut this distance in half.
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Scientists claim that these explosions, which are called bonfires, are small in relation to the Sun. However, to make it fit for people, the smallest bonfires are as big as the size of a European country.
Scientists have said they are currently unsure if these campfires are solar flares or are a work of a different phenomenon. They added that by studying this they will be able to solve one of the key mysteries of the sun; why the outer atmosphere (corona) is hotter than the visible areas of the Sun. The Subnbn’s visible surface is approximately 99,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the corona is one million degrees. Scientists have been confused with this for a long time, as the corona should be colder as it is further from the melting furnace within the sun.
Scientists claim that these outbursts, which are called bonfires, are small relative to the Sun. However, to make it tailor-made for people, the smallest bonfires are as big as the size of a European country. (Image: Solar Orbiter / EUI Team / ESA & NASA; CSL, IAS, MPS, PMOD / WRC, ROB, UCL / MSSL)
The Parker Solar Probe will fly much closer to the sun compared to the Solar Orbiter. However, it does not carry any telescopic equipment. She only carries equipment to measure the environment of the sun. The Sun is currently at the calmest point of its 11-year activity cycle, so the Orbiter should have much more energetic phenomena to study as the mission progresses.
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Scientists claim that the Orbiter will provide better photos and help with many new discoveries as time goes on. “Remember that the current data we are showing today is merely a by-product of the technical tests we were doing, in these images the instruments are not yet fully configured,” said Berghmans.
The Solar Orbiter continues its cruise to the Sun as you read, with its local instruments continually working to take measurements and photos of the Sun. The Orbiter will gradually approach the Sun over the course of a few years. In 2025, the Orbiter will leave the main plane of the solar system and enter an inclined orbit that will allow it to obtain detailed images of the Sun’s poles.
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