People had never seen these pictures like this: a few months after launching into space, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured photos of the sun from previously unattainable proximity. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen played a key role in the project.
- The Solar Orbiter spacecraft delivers breathtaking images of the sun.
- The Göttingen Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research is involved in the project.
- The researchers can gain unique insights.
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Göttingen – The sensational photos were taken in mid-June. “Only” 77 million kilometers separated the spacecraft from the sun. The recordings provide unique and comprehensive insights – from the magnetic fields on the surface to the particles that flow into space as a solar wind. The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen is an important partner of the mission and significantly involved in four of the instruments.
Spacecraft with instruments from Göttingen: sharp view
One of these instruments is the “Extreme Ultraviolet Imager” (EUI), to which the MPS contributed one of a total of three telescopes. The instrument looks into different layers of the hot, outer atmosphere of the sun (corona), which primarily emits ultraviolet light. Since UV light is largely absorbed in the earth’s atmosphere, it is not even available to the most powerful and largest earth-bound solar telescopes. This instrument already offers the sharpest view of this sunny region.
Solar Orbiter: The spacecraft is on its way to the sun.
© ESA / ATG Medialab / NASA / dpa
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In the particularly short-wave UV light, there are small, bright spots in the EUI images, hardly more than 700 kilometers in diameter. Scientists believe it is possible that these are so-called nano-flares, significantly smaller versions of the massive outbreaks of radiation from the sun that reach far into space and can affect the earth.
Spacecraft with instruments from Göttingen: mini outbreaks
“We already know the larger of these mini-outbreaks from the recordings of other space probes. We are now seeing the many, many smaller ones for the first time, ”says MPS scientist Dr. Udo Schühle from the EUI management team. It was completely surprising how often this phenomenon occurs. “The corona is obviously full of such mini-outbreaks,” said Schühle.
A composite view of the sun’s outer atmosphere.
© Solar Orbiter/Metis Team/ ESA & NASA
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The “Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager” (PHI) developed and built at the MPS looks at the sun’s surface itself. “The magnetic structures on the surface of the sun, which PHI makes visible, are the driving force behind all processes that Solar Orbiter observes in the outer layers of the sun,” says MPS Director Prof. Dr. Sami K. Solanki.
Spacecraft with instruments from Göttingen: magnetic fields on the sun’s surface
From the strength and direction of the magnetic fields on the sun’s surface, the researchers can calculate how the magnetic fields continue into the outer layers. The first calculations of this kind have already been received.
Despite these initial findings and successes, the current recordings are not yet part of Solar Orbiter’s scientific measurement campaign. For the Göttingen instruments, this will only begin in 2022 at a significantly shorter distance from the sun.
Spacecraft with instruments from Göttingen: important tests
“In the past few weeks, the main focus has been to test how our instruments behave under real space conditions,” explains scientist Dr. Johann Hirzberger. In addition to the PHI and EUI, the other two instruments with MPS participation have also proven their worth. The “Spectral Imager of the Coronal Environment” and the “Coronagraph Metis” also look into the hot, outer shell of the sun and provide additional pieces of the puzzle for the overall picture of the sun.
Spacecraft with instruments from Göttingen: Start in February
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft launched on February 10, 2020 from Cape Canaveral Space Center in the US state of Florida. The mission of the European space agency ESA, to which the US space agency NASA also contributes, is equipped with a total of ten scientific instruments.
While four of them are studying the solar wind, six are looking at the sun itself with imaging instruments. In the course of the mission, the spacecraft will only approach the sun at a distance of 42 million kilometers – a distance that is only undercut by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. In addition, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft will make it possible for the first time to look at the poles of the sun.
Spacecraft with instruments from Göttingen: More information on the Internet
The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen was involved in the development and construction of four of the instruments. There is more information here. (By Bernd Schlegel)
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