The European Space Agency (ESA) has presented images and findings from the Solar Orbiter mission's last close pass of the Sun on March 26.

Among this information, the ESA announced that it had spotted a "solar hedgehog" on the surface of the star, reports

Numerama

.

"It stretches 25,000 kilometers across the Sun and has a multitude of gas points extending in all directions, earning it its nickname," explained the European Space Agency on Twitter.

We've also spotted a solar '#hedgehog' 😯 It stretches 25,000 kilometers across the Sun and has a multitude of spikes of gas that reach out in all directions, earning its nickname 🦔https://t.co/XqO2xm3Aui

— ESA's Solar Orbiter (@ESASolarOrbiter) May 18, 2022


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ESA cannot yet explain this phenomenon

However, ESA experts do not yet know what this phenomenon is or how it could have formed in the Sun's atmosphere.

The only certainty is that this "solar hedgehog" was observed on March 30, four days after Solar Orbiter passed closest to the star.

At the same time, the European Space Agency also presented images showing solar flares, but also shots of the poles of the Sun or even a video allowing you to approach an active region of the star and contemplate the outburst of the magnetic field from inside the Sun.

Fans of this type of image will be able to rejoice: as Solar Orbiter gets closer to the Sun, the details of the shots and other videos will be more and more precise.

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