The Teide Observatory, which is located in Tenerife, has unveiled photos of the Sun that reveal in detail the dynamics of its active zones. Thanks to the modernization of the VTT telescope, it was possible to obtain unique 8K images of sunspots, plasma and magnetic fields – with a resolution of up to 100 km. The study has already been published in the journal Solar Physics.
Giant telescopes focus on individual parts of the Sun, missing the big picture, while satellites capture the entire disk, but without detail. The VTT, operating since 1988, has filled this gap: its field of view covers 1/7th of the Sun’s diameter (200,000 km), which is three times the capability of conventional large telescopes. But the real prize was a new camera system from the Potsdam Institute for Astrophysics.
The system takes 100 photos at 25fps and then combines the captured photos into a single 8K image with a resolution of 8000×6000 pixels. This allows it to neutralize distortions from the Earth’s atmosphere and to record processes lasting from 20 seconds.
“We are teaching an old telescope new tricks,” jokes AIP’s Carsten Denker.
The improved telescope helped scientists see sunspots in supergranulation, the swirling magnetic fields that caused three powerful flares, and plasma motions in the photosphere and chromosphere.
In this way, scientists have come closer to unraveling the mechanisms of solar flares that affect space weather and technology on Earth. In addition, 8K camera technology could become the standard for new telescopes, tripling their field of view compared to current 4K systems.
“The Sun is a laboratory for studying plasma and magnetism. We now have the instrument to view it in all its glory,” concludes Rolf Schlichenmaier of the Institute of Solar Physics.
Earlier we reported on how a 1.3-gigapixel photo of the moon was created from 280k photos.
According to Phys
