The sun is presently sleeping. Its surface area and corona are fairly quiet as it prepares to ramp up for an expected stage of high activity in 2025. This previous October, the ESAs Solar Orbiter was able to slip in a close-up peak at the Sun as it slumbers.
On October 12th the European Space Agencys Solar Orbiter flew to within less than a 3rd of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. This was the closest flyby yet that the mission has performed, and it was specifically lucky timing since at the time of the close passage it was headed in the direction of the Earth. This allowed the orbiter to transfer an uncommonly large amount of data. This allowed the ESA to produce a motion picture of this suns corona as imaged by the Solar Orbiter.
To provide you a sense of scale, each pixel in the image is 105 km throughout. That implies about 17 Earths would fit side by side crossing the image.
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The movie reveals the Suns corona, which is its outermost environment. The corona extends up to two times the radius of the Sun and has a temperature level of over a million degrees. When the Sun introduces a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection, it originates here in the corona. The Suns corona is currently fairly quiet, but it will not state that method for long.
The film produced by the Solar Orbiter reveals the arcing and curving loops that define the plasma of the corona. In those regions the plasma is held in place by magnetic fields that punch in and out of the surface of the Sun. When the Sun releases a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection, it comes from here in the corona. Astronomers arent precisely sure how this process plays out, other than for the reality that it includes the breaking of very strong magnetic fields.
One of the objectives of the Solar Orbiter is to understand the characteristics of the corona and how it can launch flares and ejections. That will assist astronomers much better understand the physics of the Sun itself and make more precise designs and forecasts of solar weather condition.
The Suns corona is presently reasonably quiet, however it will not state that way for long. Every 11 years the Sun peaks in activity, and the next peak is anticipated around 2025. So this might be our last look for a while of a sleeping Sun.
The video is readily available on the European Space firms website here.
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The film shows the Suns corona, which is its outermost atmosphere. The corona extends up to two times the radius of the Sun and has a temperature level of over a million degrees. However the density of the corona is so low that you wouldnt feel that sweltering temperature.