Jan. 10 () –
The ESA has published close-up images and data from the solar flares recorded by the Solar Orbiter mission during the last three years.
in a video shows how the number of eruptions and their intensity increases, a clear sign that the Sun It is approaching the peak of the 11-year solar cycle.
The sequence combines ultraviolet images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona, in yellow) taken by Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument, with the size and location of solar flares (blue circles) recorded by the instrument Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX). The audio that accompanies the video is a sonification based on the detected flares and the distance of the spacecraft from the Sun.
Solar Orbiter moves in an elliptical path around the Sun, approaching our star every six months. This is seen in the video from the perspective of the spacecraft, with the Sun moving closer and farther away throughout each year. In sonification, this is represented by a low background hum that gets louder as the Sun gets closer. and it gets quieter as it gets further away.
There are some abrupt changes in distance visible in the video, as it skips over dates when one or both instruments were down or collecting a different type of data, ESA reports. in a statement.
The blue circles represent solar flares: bursts of high-energy radiation from which STIX detects
The size of each circle indicates the intensity of the flares, with stronger flares sending out more where the sharpness of the sound corresponds to the energy of the solar flares.
Add Comment