Astronomers have achieved the sharpest views yet of the solar corona using new adaptive optics technology, shedding light on a long-standing question: why the corona is heated to millions of degrees while regions closer to the Sun are significantly cooler. The innovative system, developed by Dirk Schmidt and colleagues, corrects for atmospheric distortions and captures fine details in the hot plasma.
The Cona system, tested at the Goode Solar Telescope in California, reshapes the telescope’s mirror 2,200 times per second, resulting in hydrogen-alpha images that resolve structures just 63 kilometers across – more than 10 times sharper than previously possible. The images reveal features such as loops and arcs over the visible surface, called prominences, as well as spicules, narrow jets of plasma traveling at speeds over 200,000 mph.
The researchers also discovered a fast-evolving feature they had never seen before, which indicates its origin in magnetic reconnection. While this new technology holds great promise, further research is needed to understand the underlying physics and explain the corona’s extreme temperature. The system is expected to be implemented at solar telescopes worldwide, including the Daniel K. Inouye Telescope in Hawai’i.
Source: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/sharpest-images-yet-of-the-suns-corona-videos