New high-resolution photographs show the surface of the sun in sharp detail.
The photographs, captured by the National Science Foundation Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, display the solar system’s star in a whole new scale. Each bright solar cell seen in the video is roughly the size of Texas. The motion of new cells bubbling up is a result of heat moving from the sun’s interior to its exterior, thus producing a popcorn-like appearance.
According to the NSF, hot plasma is seen moving to the center of each solar cell before cooling and sinking.
Scientists intend to use the photos and data gathered to more accurately predict solar storms. Large solar storms can put spacecraft and Earth’s power grids at risk.
“These first images are just the beginning,” said David Boboltz, program director in NSF’s division of astronomical sciences. “The Inouye Solar Telescope will collect more information about our sun during the first five years of its lifetime than all the solar data gathered since Galileo first pointed a telescope at the sun in 1612.”
The telescope, based in Hawaii, was renamed in 2013 after Sen. Daniel Inouye, who was president pro tempore of the Senate from 2010 until his death in 2012. The foundation described him as “a tireless proponent of science, technology, engineering, and math, especially when it came to enriching the lives of the people of Hawaii.”
