Solar Orbiter snaps clearest picture of Sun. Zoom in for a surprise

The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter has captured the most detailed image of the Sun’s full disc and outer atmosphere, the corona, to date.

This remarkable image was taken in extreme ultraviolet light at a wavelength of 17 nanometers, revealing the intense environment of the Sun’s upper atmosphere with a temperature of approximately one million degrees Celsius.

The Solar Orbiter, a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, took this unprecedented image from an approximate distance of 75 million kilometers away from the Sun.

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The final mosaic is composed of 25 individual images stitched together, which were captured on March 7 by the high-resolution telescope of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument aboard the spacecraft.

This solar portrait is not just a scientific marvel but also an artistic masterpiece, showcasing more than 83 million pixels in a staggering 9148 x 9112 pixel grid. To put this into perspective, the resolution of this image is ten times better than what current 4K TV screens can display.

The inclusion of an Earth image for scale at the 2 o’clock position emphasises the vastness and grandeur of our star.

The Solar Orbiter’s close approach to the Sun, within the orbit of Mercury, allows it to capture such high-resolution images. Equipped with a suite of 10 instruments, the spacecraft is designed to study the Sun in great detail, including its magnetic fields, solar winds, and energetic particles, providing insights into the workings of our closest star.

This image is not only a technical achievement but also a crucial step forward in understanding the Sun’s influence on the solar system. The data collected will help scientists unravel the mysteries of the solar wind and the corona’s extreme temperatures, which have puzzled astronomers for decades.