New videos from ESA and NASA's solar orbiter show the sun in a new way These videos were taken during the probe's first approach to perihelion. Of course, this is only the first time the space probe has amplified the details of the sun. But that doesn't make things less exciting.
In its first pass, the solar orbiter approached the sun in the orbit of mercury. This is about one third of the distance between the sun and the earth. ESA said that at that time, the spacecraft's thermal shield would reach about 500 degrees Celsius.
However, the result was several amazing solar orbiter videos that showed us a different view of the sun than ever before. According to these videos, because the solar orbiter magnifies the surface of the sun. In the process, it captured several solar flares and a coronal mass ejection guided by the earth.
One of the most interesting discoveries in these new solar orbiter videos is the "solar hedgehog". This phenomenon extends about 25000 kilometers on the sun. Moreover, it has several peaks of hot and cold gas, extending in different directions. This is a spectacular sight, and ESA hopes to study it more deeply in the future.
But the sun orbiter is not just here to shoot wonderful videos to amaze us. ESA and NASA are working together to study the sun. The two space agencies hope that this will enable us to better determine more information about space weather.
In recent years, space weather has become a big problem. Especially as the sun prepares for the most active part of its current solar cycle. Therefore, the solar orbiter and the videos it captures will hopefully give us some enlightenment before the solar weather comes.
Solar flares and coronal mass ejections can damage the earth's magnetic field, resulting in power outages for satellites and other spacecraft. With spacecraft like the solar orbiter, it is possible for scientists to do something for real-time space weather forecasting. Of course, this is only part of the task. The solar orbiter is also ready to help us learn more about the sun.