Jul. 20 - Solar Orbiter : the Euro-American space probe delivered new shots of the Sun

The Solar Orbiter space probe launched in the beginning of 2020 revealed numerous new shots of the Sun and has uncovered the existence of "campfires" on its surface.

With six observation telescopes on-board, Solar Orbiter’s main aim is to capture shots of the Sun at very short distance, it seems that the first uncovered pictures went above expectations and displayed a new phenomenon called “campfires”.

Those tiny eruptions happening on the surface of the Sun have never been witnessed with such high resolution before. They might also be linked with the origins of the heating inside the solar corona.

Other instruments aboard the Solar Orbiter probe might help unravel some mysteries around the sun. EREMS developed for the CNRS-IAS the High-Voltage power supply of the Phi-instrument (Poliarimetric and Heliosismeic Imager) which aims at studying the fluctuations of the solar magnetic field.

Thanks to the collected data, scientists will learn more on the activity of the Sun’s surface and more precisely on the convective zone.

For more details, see the ESA dedicated webpage.