China News Service, July 17th, comprehensive foreign media reported that on the 16th local time, the European Space Agency announced the "sun orbiter" took the closest photo ever taken of the sun, the location was about 77 million kilometers away from the sun.
The "Solar Orbiter" has taken the closest photo to the sun in history. Image source: European Space Agency.
According to reports, the "Solar Orbiter" jointly developed by NASA and the European Space Agency was launched in February 2020 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the United States. At the end of May, the aircraft passed the perihelion and captured the closest surface to the sun. Photographs showing unprecedented natural phenomena.
Daniel Muller, an expert on the "Solar Orbiter" of the European Space Agency, said: "The first batch of photos returned exceeded our expectations." Mueller said, "This gives us confidence that the'Solar Orbiter' will help We answer questions about the esoteric sun and yet to be resolved."
The report said that in particular, the scientific team observed many miniature flares, which are called "campfires" by scientists, and no aircraft has captured its images before.
David Berghmans, a solar science researcher at the Belgian Royal Astronomical Observatory, said that “campfires” are a million or even a billion times smaller than solar flares that can be observed from Earth. However, even the smallest flare observed by the research team spans about 400 kilometers.
It is reported that solar wind and flares will affect the planets such as the Earth. Despite decades of research, scientists still cannot fully understand this phenomenon.