NASA has released a video taken by the Japanese Hinoda spacecraft of a large sunspot that erupted in December 2006 *First images from stereo spacecraft
Click on the picture to watch the video (MPEG)
A video taken by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) at the Japanese-American Hinoda Observatory on December 13, 2006 shows the details of sunspot number 930 for this cycle, an extremely strong X-type spot. This is one of the most detailed videos of solar storms that solar physicists have ever seen. The spot was imaged with a resolution of 0.2 arcseconds or 0.00006 degrees. The telescope could observe segments of the sun each about 150 km wide, from a distance of 150 million km.
However, resolution is only one part of the story, "What makes Hinoda special as a solar telescope is its unique ability to see the Sun's magnetic field," says John Davis, lead scientist on the Hinoda project for NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center. According to him, it was this ability that allowed a glimpse into what was happening under the sunspot of December 13.
"Solar storms are essentially magnetic," explains Davis. "In a vortex above a sunspot, the magnetic lines of force dance and fuse until the tension reaches a certain point, and then everything starts to explode."
“A rubber band can provide a good analogy. Take one from the table, hold one end of it in each hand, stretch and twist. If you twist it repeatedly to the extreme, the tortured ligament will suddenly snap and painfully release all the energy we just put into it. A magnetic field behaves like rubber bands and Hinode could see the rotations and tensions created by the December 13 storm," he said.
in a separate video (Click on the link for a high-resolution video) You see the storm, hurricane-like, but at least twice the size of the Earth. This is actually a magnetic map of the storm area at the southern end of sunspot 930. The red arrows depict the direction of the sunspot's magnetic field, the yellow areas have positive polarity (N), and the black ones have negative polarity (S). The video begins on December 10, three days before the eruption and ends on December 14, one day after the eruption.
First pictures from the stereo
(Please click on the photo to get the high resolution image)
A pair of stereo spacecraft orbiting the sun in different orbits, and hence also at different speeds and therefore observing the sun from different angles, sent this week the first images of the sun's surface. Combining the data from the two spacecraft gives NASA the opportunity to build a three-dimensional image and thus better assess where the material emitted in the solar flares is progressing.
This method will make it possible to be more accurate in predicting events that may affect the earth, since these particles may damage the earth and cause the paralysis of the electrical grid in large areas, damage to satellites in space, as well as endanger humans who are active in space.
One response
Beautiful 🙂