The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Feb. 21 that the agency's Solar Orbiter probe photographed a massive eruption of the sun, the largest similar eruption ever observed in a single image. It is reported that this radiation explosion is called "Helium", this time "Nissin" in the sun away from the Earth, extending millions of miles into space.
The Solar Orbiter's "All-Day Imager" (FSI) captured huge prominences.
The "heliotropes" are reportedly large structures made up of tangled magnetic field lines that allow dense solar plasma to suspend on the sun's surface, sometimes appearing as arched rings. Prominence is usually associated with coronal mass ejections, which, if shot directly at Earth, can wreak havoc on electronic communications.
The ESA said the latest solar eruption occurred on Feb. 15 and was photographed by the Solar Orbiter's Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) "Full-Day Imager" (FSI).
The Solar Orbiter will take images of the Sun from a closer distance than any previous spacecraft and observe its unknown polar regions for the first time.
The FSI is designed to observe the entire solar disk. Scientists say this opens up new possibilities, seeing for the first time how a similar eruption event relates to the solar disk.
The ESA said that while the eruption did not send a deadly particle explosion to Earth, it was an important reminder of the sun's unpredictability and the importance of understanding and monitoring its dynamics.
Scientists hope that by looking more deeply and carefully at similar events, we can better protect our Earth's home from the effects of violent solar eruptions.
The Solar Orbiter, launched in February 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, was described by the ESA as "the most complex scientific laboratory ever sent to the Sun."
The Solar Orbiter has been described by the ESA as "the most complex scientific laboratory ever sent to the Sun"
The ESA said the Solar Orbiter will take images of the Sun from a closer distance than any previous spacecraft and observe its unknown polar region for the first time.
By combining observations from the Solar Orbiter's six remote sensing instruments and four sets of in situ instruments, scientists hope to find answers to some profound questions. For example, what drives the Sun's 11-year cycle of magnetic activity rising and falling? What heats the upper layers of its atmosphere, i.e. the corona, to millions of degrees Celsius? What drives the production of the solar wind, a high-energy particle? What accelerates the solar wind to speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second? How has all this affected our planet?
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin