Solar Astronomers Capture Most Detailed Images and Videos Yet of Sun’s Corona

Solar Astronomers Capture Most Detailed Images and Videos Yet of Sun’s Corona

To make these high-resolution images and movies, astronomers from NSF’s National Solar Observatory and New Jersey Institute of Technology developed a new ‘coronal adaptive optics’ system that removes blur from images caused by the Earth’s atmosphere.

This image is a snapshot from a 16-minute time-lapse movie showing the formation and collapse of a complexly shaped plasma stream traveling at almost 100 km per seconds in front of a coronal loop system. This is likely the first time such a stream, which the scientists refer to as plasmoid, has been observed, leaving them wondering about the physical explanation of the observed dynamics. This image was taken by the Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory using the new coronal adaptive optics system Cona. The image shows the hydrogen-alpha light emitted by the solar plasma. The image is artificially colorized, yet based on the color of hydrogen-alpha light, and darker color is brighter light. Image credit: Schmidt et al. / NJIT / NSO / AURA / NSF.

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