Spacecraft snaps closest pictures of sun, 'campfires' abound

[turbinetree]

By MARCIA DUNN
27 minutes ago

https://apnews.com/6ac459e6faa9c0af236a0354e0afa071/gallery/96d2b432d8f04171b962777dbb3e6022



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A European and NASA spacecraft has snapped the closest pictures ever taken of the sun, revealing countless little “campfires” flaring everywhere.

Scientists on Thursday released the first images taken by Solar Orbiter, launched from Cape Canaveral in February.

The orbiter was about 48 million miles (77 million kilometers) from the sun — about halfway between Earth and the sun — when it took the stunning high-resolution pictures last month.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is flying much closer to the sun than Solar Orbiter — too close for cameras to safely photograph the sun. Its lone camera faces away from the sun to observe the solar wind.

That’s why Solar Orbiter’s new pictures showing vibrant swirls of yellow and dark smoky gray — the first images from so close and at such small scale — are so precious. The team had to create a new vocabulary to name these tiny flare-ups, said European Space Agency project scientist Daniel Muller.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

https://apnews.com/6ac459e6faa9c0af236a0354e0afa071

[Bayard]

1. Amazing pics

Thanks!

[NCjack]

2. Asking for Trump and what's-her-name his press mouth piece:

Were any embers observed?

[tinrobot]

3. But are there marshmallows for the campfires?