New images from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft (ESA / NASA) allowed for the first time to see in detail a powerful stream of solar wind bursting out of our star. The unique footage, published in The Astrophysical Journal, shows a giant spiral structure in the Sun’s corona that persisted for more than 3 hours and extended over 2 million kilometers.
See the dazzling structure
The Metis instrument aboard Solar Orbiter used coronagraph technology, which allows bright sunlight to be “dimmed” to capture faint phenomena in the star’s outer atmosphere. That’s how scientists obtained images of the Alfvenic solar wind, the stream of charged particles that form the Sun’s heliosphere. These are the first direct observations of this magnitude!
Why is this discovery important?
The solar wind constantly affects the Earth: it causes auroras, interferes with satellites. But so far it has only been studied on its approach to our planet. Metis, on the other hand, allows us to analyze the wind directly at its source — the Sun’s corona. It’s like “eavesdropping” on the exact moment of particle birth, which will help better predict space weather.
Interesting details:
- The spiral structure was recorded on October 12, 2022, at a distance of 1.5-3 solar radii (1 radius — 696,000 km).
- Solar Orbiter is the only spacecraft capable of seeing such fine details thanks to its ultraviolet and visible spectra.
- The mission has already witnessed miniaturized emissions near the Sun’s South Pole.
- Convergence with the Sun is planned until 2030.
Solar Orbiter research is breaking new ground in understanding the Sun. Each new image is a clue as to how the corona heats up to millions of degrees, how the solar wind is formed and why it accelerates to cosmic speeds. And that, in turn, will help protect technology and astronauts on future missions.
Earlier we reported on how the ESA showed an increase in solar activity.
According to ESA
