• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Video – Closest images ever taken of Sun show ‘campfires’ on surface

The images were captured last month by the Solar Orbiter, a probe designed and built in the UK.

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2020-07-16 16:24
in News, Science
Credit;PA

Credit;PA

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Scientists have revealed the closest images ever taken of the Sun, which show mini solar flares, called “campfires”, dotted across its surface.

The images were captured last month by the Solar Orbiter, a European Space Agency probe designed and built in the UK, when it came within 47 million miles of the Sun’s surface.

The close pass, known as a perihelion, put the spacecraft between the orbits of Venus and Mercury.

 
 

The images come as the Solar Orbiter completes four months of technical verification, known as commissioning.

Solar flares are brief eruptions of high-energy radiation from the Sun’s surface, which can cause radio and magnetic disturbances on the Earth.

Dr Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK space agency, said that scientists were excited by the presence of campfires that are “millions of times smaller than the solar flares”.

Mysterious

She said: “We do not really know what they (the campfires) are doing but there is speculation that they might play a role in coronal heating, a mysterious process whereby the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona, is much hotter (around 300 times) than the layers below.

RelatedPosts

Protest at Downing Street over treatment of low-paid workers after Gray report

PM broke City Hall rules as he is accused of watering down ministerial code

Campaigners battling to save 100-year-old tree from being chopped down – by guarding it day and night

Devil in detail? Windfall tax directly contradicts government’s green commitment

“These campfires may be contributing to that in a way we do not know yet.”

Scientists spot what they call small campfires on the surface of the Sun.
The arrow points to a campfire, many of which are dotted across the Sun’s surface (Solar Orbiter/EUI Team/ESA/Nasa)

To find out more, scientists will monitor the temperatures of these campfires using an instrument on the spacecraft known as Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment, or SPICE.

David Berghmans of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB), principal investigator of the EUI instrument, which takes high-resolution images of the lower layers of the Sun’s atmosphere, said the smallest campfires measure around 800 kilometres (500 miles).

He added: “The Sun might look quiet at the first glance, but when we look in detail, we can see those miniature flares everywhere we look.”

Aside from helping unlock the mysteries of coronal heating, the Solar Orbiter will also help scientists piece together the Sun’s atmospheric layers and analyse the solar wind, the stream of highly energetic particles emitted by the star.

Solar activity

Understanding more about solar activity could also help scientists make predictions on space weather events, which can damage satellites in orbit and disrupt the infrastructure on Earth that mobile phones, transport, GPS signals and the electricity networks rely on.

Solar orbiter spacecraft.
The Solar Orbiter was designed and built in the UK (PA Graphics)

Dr Harper said: “The science will allow us to start improving our operational capability to predict the space weather, just like you predict the weather here on Earth.”

The spacecraft will make a close approach to the Sun every five months, and at its closest will only be 26 million miles away, closer than the planet Mercury.

It will use the gravitational force of Venus and Earth to adjust its trajectory, before getting into operational orbit in November 2021.

Dr Harper told PA: “At that point, it will send back much more data about the Sun’s surface.

“It will also be flying over the poles of the Sun and take images.”

#SolarOrbiter presents:#TheSunUpClose

?https://t.co/VzhyZnKmRv

?️https://t.co/Iyx1Y7oI52 pic.twitter.com/uYQQXL2A0G

— ESA’s Solar Orbiter (@ESASolarOrbiter) July 16, 2020

Cape Canaveral

The Solar Orbiter was constructed by Airbus in Stevenage and blasted off from Nasa’s Cape Canaveral site in Florida on February 10.

It has been designed to withstand the scorching heat from the Sun that will hit one side, while maintaining freezing temperatures on the other side of the spacecraft as the orbit keeps it in shadow.

Dr Harper said: “It is really quite exciting to be involved (in the mission).

“We have leading roles on four of the 10 scientific instruments on board the Solar Orbiter.

“For me, it showcases the UK’s world-leading role in solar physics research and its capabilities in the industrial space sector.”

Related – Discovery of 20 new moons puts Saturn ahead of Jupiter

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

BANNED! Headless Eyes (1971)

Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey moved into tier 3

Patients getting hooked on powerful painkiller prescribed after surgery

Weather forecast, alerts and UVB index for London, Saturday 15 August 2020

Car industry hits ‘red alert’ as investment drops by £2bn in three years

‘The Referee’s a Tory!’ Clapton Ultras, the most left-wing fans in Britain?

Donald Trump’s tweets come back to haunt him – again

Restaurant Review – Chinese Cricket Club

Euro-African trade signifies changing relations

Michael Gove accused of ‘sanctioning stereotypes’ after tweeting Stormzy lyrics

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.