A team of astronomers has used an advanced tool to record impressive images of the Sun’s outer corona, with the results being quite astonishing. The high-resolution photos showcase magnetic threads with a length of up to 500 kilometers (or 311 miles). Plasmatic threads of this type can reach a temperature that is beyond one million degrees.
Since the Sun is quite bright, researchers used High-Resolution Coronal Imager to record the required media. As the name may infer, this tool was built to observe and gather more information about the Sun’s corona, which is the most active part of its atmosphere. The Hi-C can trace objects which have a size of at least 70 kilometers (43 miles) or up to 0.0.1% of the Sun’s size.
New details about the Sun and its outer corona
In the past, astronomers had to rely on images that were taken at a standard definition. High-quality images will offer the chance to make new discoveries since it is considerably easier to observe subtle details that wouldn’t be noticeable otherwise.
Many researchers continue to remain interested in some of the questions related to the Sun and its structure. A significant role is played by the magnetic field and coronal loops, which can be found in the outer layer of the star and contribute to the formation of intense solar storms. By learning more about these aspects, it is thought that better strategies could be developed, allowing humanity to avoid some of the issues which could be brought by a massive solar storm.
One of the goals of the Hi-C mission is to gather more data that could be combined with information collected by other tools to develop an accurate study of the Sun and most of its critical traits. The sheer-scale of the initiative is a bit daunting, and some time will have to pass until it can be completed.
