Updated January 30th, 2023 at 17:37 IST
World's most powerful Inouye solar telescope offers fresh look at Sun's boiling surface
The Inouye solar telescope in Hawai’i has offered a fresh glimpse into the happenings on the solar surface where the temperature is as high as 6,000°C.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the latest visuals captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope of the Sun’s boiling surface. Located on the island of Maui in Hawai’i, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is a four-meter solar observatory and it released the first close-up pictures of the Sun three years ago. The telescope has done it again providing a fresh glimpse into the happenings on the solar surface where the temperature is as high as 6,000°C.
Three years ago today, @NSF's #DKIST– the world's most powerful solar telescope – released its first amazing images of the boiling surface of the sun. Here's the latest look!
— National Science Foundation (@NSF) January 29, 2023
DKIST helps us study the sun's impact on Earth.https://t.co/GztCmyEfN3
📷: @NatSolarObs/AURA/NSF pic.twitter.com/i4JDxwkZ5A
The NSF has shared a two-second clip of the Sun showcasing its granular surface in stunning detail. The telescope managed to capture certain movements as the solar surface seethes at 6,000°C temperature. The Inouye telescope is observing the Sun to help scientists learn more about space weather which can affect systems on Earth. Moreover, magnetic solar eruptions can impact air travel, disrupt satellite communications and bring down power grids, causing long-lasting blackouts and disabling technologies such as GPS.
(Close-up of the solar surface; Image: NSF)
In the process of doing so, the Inouye telescope produced the picture above with the highest resolution of the Sun’s surface ever taken. According to the NSF, we can see features on the solar surface as small as 30km (18 miles) in size for the first time ever and the patterns are the signature of violent motions that transport heat from the inside of the sun to its surface.
"Never before seen to this clarity, these bright specks are thought to channel energy up into the outer layers of the solar atmosphere called the corona. These bright spots may be at the core of why the solar corona is more than a million degrees," the NSF said in a statement.
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Published January 30th, 2023 at 17:38 IST
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