JAKARTA – A giant eruption from the Sun that is quite terrible has been captured by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. The image according to the European Space Agency (ESA) is the largest solar eruption ever.
Fortunately, the eruption did not lead to Earth. This is the largest event ever observed in a single image together with a full solar disk and will add to the joint NASA and ESA mission to better understand solar activity.
“Solar eruptions are massive structures of tangled magnetic field lines that keep dense concentrations of solar plasma suspended above the sun’s surface, sometimes in the form of loop curved,” said the ESA.
Wow! The giant solar eruption of 15 Feb seen by #SolarOrbiter – the largest solar prominence ever observed in a single image together with the full solar disc, thanks to the novel design of our Full Sun Imager.
https://t.co/gtF6DLfkEy #ExploreFarther #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters pic.twitter.com/VS5jqRrcPU— ESA’s Solar Orbiter (@ESASolarOrbiter) February 18, 2022
Solar eruptions are often associated with coronal mass ejections, these are eruptions of charged particles that the Sun emits from time to time.
If this eruption were directed towards Earth, it would disrupt satellites, power lines, and other critical infrastructure. The image was captured by Solar Orbiter on February 15, 2022 with Extreme Ultraviolet Imager.
“Other space telescopes such as the ESA/NASA satellite SOHO + Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) frequently see this kind of solar activity, but either closer to the Sun, or farther away through the occult, which blocks the glare of the solar disk to allow detailed images of the corona. itself,” said the ESA.
Launch SpaceThus, the eruption observed by Solar Orbiter was the largest event of its kind captured in a single field of view with the solar disk, opening up new possibilities for seeing how an event like this is connected to the solar disk for the first time.
At the same time, SOHO can provide a complementary look for longer distances. The Solar Orbiter’s next closest approach is on March 26, passing 0.3 times the Sun-Earth distance. Generally, 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.
“The sun will thus appear much larger in the images taken in a few weeks,” said ESA.
For information, the Solar Orbiter is currently moving towards a close rendezvous with the Sun when it will pass within 27.9 million miles (44.9 million km), as it studies the solar polar regions, which will be too close to capture such a large advantage. and the Sun in one shot.
However, at its current distance, it can take pictures equivalent to five times the radius of the Sun. ESA hopes that comparing such a large image of the Sun and its surroundings with observations by other spacecraft, including SOHO, the Parker Solar Probe, and the BepiColombo mission, will make it possible to develop a better understanding of these advantages and how to protect Earth from them.
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