Scientists have released eight new photos from the state-of-the-art Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii. In 2020, this telescope already took the most detailed pictures of the surface of the sun. Now we get to see a series with a lot of sunspots.
Our sun is not only the closest star, but also a giant nuclear reactor that burns five million tons of hydrogen fuel every second. Our sun has been doing this for about five billion years and there is enough fuel to keep it going for another 4.5 billion years. Yet the sun is not a ‘boring’ ball of gas. Our sun follows a roughly eleven-year cycle, which is characterized by a solar maximum and a solar minimum. During a solar minimum, the sun is very calm and generates few sunspots and solar flares. And during a solar maximum, the sun is very active. We are currently approaching a new solar maximum, which means that many sunspots are again visible on the sun.
What Are Sunspots?
Sunspots are dark areas on the sun that may be larger than our own planet. The areas are a few thousand degrees Celsius cooler than the rest of the sun’s surface. They are caused by disturbances in the strong magnetic field of the neighboring star. When hot gas bubbles cannot reach the photosphere – the deepest layer of the sun’s atmosphere – it cools and we see a sunspot. Did you know that sunspots aren’t actually black? They appear black only because the rest of the sun’s surface is so extremely bright.
On Earth, sunspots are closely monitored. Large sunspots or groups of sunspots can produce solar flares and so-called coronal mass ejections. Those coronal mass ejections in particular can sometimes be vicious; during these outbursts on the sun, high-energy particles and magnetic fields are flung into space. In addition to generating a beautiful aurora, these can also cause damage to satellites in orbit around the earth and – in exceptional cases – cause problems for our planet.
Razor-sharp new photos
The photos were taken with the Visible-Broadband Imager (VBI), one of the solar telescope’s instruments. This instrument provides sharp images of our parent star over a wide range of wavelengths and can observe subtle details. This can be clearly seen in the latest images. For example, a clear difference is visible between the umbra (the darkest part of a sunspot) and the penumbra (the light edge of a sunspot). If you look closely you can even see lines in the penumbra. These are penumbral filaments and are sometimes referred to as “stretch marks”. Click on the pictures below to view an enlargement.
Astronomers use the latest photos to learn more about sunspots. In the last photo, umbral fragments can be seen on the left. These are old sunspots that have lost their penumbra. These fragments were previously part of the neighboring sunspot, suggesting that this may be the final stage in sunspot evolution.
More than just sunspots
In addition to photos of sunspots, we also see other phenomena on the sun. Below we tell you more about this. Click on the pictures below to view an enlargement.
Are these corn kernels? No, we are looking here at granulation cells, or ‘bubbles’ in the photosphere. Heated plasma rises in these granulation cells, then cools and falls into the dark, intergranular lanes. These cells appear and disappear in a few minutes. Each grain of corn is actually the size of France.
In the sun’s chromosphere (or atmosphere), fine, dark threads of plasma can be seen emanating from the underlying magnetic network. These so-called ‘fibrils’ can reach a height of thousands of kilometers.
A technological marvel on top of a volcano
The Inouye Solar Telescope, located on the peak of Hawaii’s 3,000-meter Haleakala Volcano, is the largest solar telescope in the world. This telescope features a giant mirror of four meters in diameter, complemented by a specially designed cooling system. This system uses pipelines more than eight miles in length that carry coolant throughout the observatory. Cooling is done partly with ice, which is produced every night. The telescope dome is equipped with cooling plates, so that the temperature in the area around the telescope can be regulated. This is further supported by shutters in the dome, which provide both shade and optimal air circulation.
Hopefully we can expect many more beautiful pictures of the sun in the coming period, especially now that the sun has woken up and we are moving towards a solar maximum. The peak of the solar maximum is expected to fall in 2024 or 2025.
2023-05-29 09:05:38
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