The world’s most powerful solar telescope has captured the face of our star in greater detail than ever before. The images, at a resolution of just 18 kilometers, show us the middle layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, known as the chromosphere .
The images have been captured by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, a scientific facility located at the Haleakala Observatory on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The construction of this telescope is vital to properly understand how the most important star for humanity works, the one that made life possible on our planet and keeps us alive today.
Close-up of the Sun’s chromosphere
In new snapshots marking the telescope’s first anniversary, we see a close-up of our star’s chromosphere . A high-resolution portion of the Sun’s chromosphere shows jets of plasma that look like human hair . A picture is really worth a thousand words.
Data and images from this powerful telescope will write the next chapters in solar physics research, including these two new images released to celebrate that more than 25 years ago, the NSF invested in creating the world’s leading ground-based solar observatory. world to address the most pressing questions about solar physics and space weather events affecting Earth.
“NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope is the world’s most powerful solar telescope that will forever change the way we explore and understand our sun,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “His insights will transform the way our nation and planet predict and prepare for events like solar storms.”
In the second of the images, you can see bubbles or blisters known as granules, and each one is about 1,600 kilometers wide. Never before have we looked so closely at the source of light in our solar system.
“With the world’s largest solar telescope now in science operations, we are grateful for everyone who makes this remarkable facility possible,” said Matt Mountain, president of AURA. “In particular, we thank the people of Hawaii for the privilege of operating from this extraordinary site, the National Science Foundation and the US Congress for their continued support, and our Inouye Solar Telescope Team, many of who have tirelessly dedicated more than a decade to this transformative project. A new era of Solar Physics begins!”
Referencia: U.S. National Science Foundation Press Release 2022
