A new image of the Sun could reveal one of its mysteries

() — A trio of telescopes have captured a new image of the Sun that reveals invisible light from the star.

Humans can see optical or visible light, but many wavelengths of light remain hidden from view.

NASA’s NuSTAR mission, or Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, was able to observe X-rays released by the hottest spots in the star’s atmosphere. Although the telescope cannot see the entire Sun from its orbit around Earth, it took 25 high-energy X-ray images of the solar atmosphere in June.

The telescope, launched in June 2012, was designed to observe massive black holes and collapsed stars outside the solar system, but it also has a unique perspective of the Sun.

In the above composite photo, those X-ray dots, represented in blue, were combined with data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hinode mission, shown in green, and the Dynamics Observatory’s Atmospheric Imaging Suite. NASA Solar, in red.

Hinode’s X-ray telescope is designed to detect low-energy X-rays, while the Solar Dynamics Observatory captures extreme ultraviolet light.

One of the biggest mysteries of the Sun is why its outer atmosphere, or corona, is at least 100 times hotter than its surface. Astronomers believe that the heat from the corona, which reaches a staggering 1 million degrees Celsius, could be due to nanoflares in the solar atmosphere.

While NuSTAR observes high-energy X-rays from the Sun in blue (left), the Hinode mission captured low-energy X-rays in green, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory detected ultraviolet light, shown in red. Credit: JPL-Caltech/JAXA/NASA

Increases the activity of solar flares

The Sun’s activity is increasing as it reaches solar maximum.

Every 11 years, the Sun completes a solar cycle of calm and stormy activity and begins a new one. The current solar cycle, Solar Cycle 25, officially began in December 2019, and the next solar maximum, when the sun is most active, is projected to occur in July 2025.

It is important to understand the solar cycle because space weather caused by the sun, flares such as solar flares, and coronal mass ejection events, can affect power grids, satellites, GPS, airlines, rockets, and astronauts. in the space.

In the last year, solar missions have captured more flares, or big bursts of heat, light, and particles. Nanoflares are much smaller, but occur more frequently than large ones.

However, both types of phenomena generate material hotter than the mean temperature of the corona.

The nanoflares are too faint to be distinguished from the Sun’s brightness when they occur, but NuSTAR can detect the energetic material created by nanoflares that occur close to each other. Data from the telescope can help scientists monitor the frequency with which these eruptions occur.