Solar Orbiter Mission Returns First Data, Snaps Closest Pictures of the Sun

News: European Space Agency has released the closest pictures ever taken of the Sun captured by the Solar Orbiter Mission.

Facts:

Key Takeaways:

• Camp Fires: There are mini-flares on the sun that are millionths of the size of the Sun’s massive flares that are routinely observed by Earth telescopes.
• Significance: These camp fires could have something to do with the heating process that makes the corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere far hotter than its surface.

Additional Facts:

• Solar Orbiter Mission: It is a space mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA launched in February 2020.
• Aim: To perform close-up, high-resolution studies of the Sun and inner heliosphere.
• Objectives:
  • Study solar wind and where does the coronal magnetic field originate from
  • Study how solar transients drive heliospheric variability
  • Study how solar eruptions produce energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere
  • Understand how the solar dynamo works and drive connections between the Sun and the heliosphere.
• Solar Flares: It is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspot.