Clearest images of sun's atmosphere yet show coronal rain and dancing plasma

Bob McDonald · CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 1:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

New images that are the highest solution ever taken of the aboveground of the prima and its corona volition assistance scientists lick mysteries astir however storms connected the prima develop. This could amended abstraction upwind forecasts and assistance forestall disruptions to exertion connected Earth.

The images were portion of a recent survey published successful Nature Astronomy.

Anyone who has seen a full eclipse of the prima has been witnesser to the glowing halo astir our prima known as the corona. This envelope of highly blistery state extends millions of kilometres retired into abstraction and is wherever convulsive eruptions instrumentality place. These bursts of electrically charged state tin stroke disconnected the prima and scope each the mode to Earth, affecting satellites and powerfulness grids.

This glosses implicit 1 of the large mysteries astir the sun. Scientists person not been capable to wholly recognize wherefore the corona tin beryllium galore times hotter than the aboveground of the prima itself. Something is pumping vigor into the sun's atmosphere. One occupation has been the dearth of observations of the corona astatine its base, wherever it meets the aboveground and wherever the convulsive enactment originates. Nature provides little glimpses during star eclipses erstwhile the satellite covers the agleam aboveground of the prima allowing the dimmer corona to radiance through, but continuous observations person been much difficult.  

Telescopes connected the crushed trying to survey upwind connected the prima person been hampered by our ain weather. Turbulence successful our ambiance blurs images done the aforesaid effect that makes stars twinkle astatine night.  

Now, however, caller adaptive optics connected the 1.6 metre Goode Solar Telescope successful California has reduced the shimmering effect of our ambiance by a origin of ten. This improvement allows america to spot features astatine 63 kilometre resolution, which is person than ever before. The instrumentality was a flexible reflector that changes signifier 2200 times per second, compensating and correcting for atmospheric distortion arsenic it happens.

This has resulted successful the highest solution images and movies ever made of the bound betwixt the aboveground of the prima and the corona. 

WATCH | What the clearest images of the sun's corona reveal:  

The stunningly beauteous images uncover what looks similar a fluffy aboveground connected the prima with elephantine loops of worldly rising up, seemingly dancing and twisting with the sun's magnetic field. Meanwhile, cooler coronal raindrops, which tin beryllium narrower than 20 kilometres wide, fall backmost down. The observations besides amusement thing scientists person ne'er seen before: a plasma watercourse they're calling a "plasmoid" moving crossed the star aboveground astatine 100 kilometres per second.

This is the portion wherever star flares and coronal wide ejections nutrient elephantine blobs of electrically charged worldly galore times larger than the Earth, which blast disconnected the prima and onslaught our planet's magnetic field. The effect is beauteous bluish and confederate lights, but besides a damaging effect connected electronics successful satellites and powerfulness surges successful electrical grids causing blackouts.

A melodramatic illustration of this effect came successful 1989 erstwhile a coronal wide ejection caused the Quebec powerfulness grid to unopen down, casting astir of the state into acheronian for 9 hours. Since then, powerfulness systems person been hardened against specified events, but with much dependence connected GPS satellites, navigation systems could inactive beryllium interrupted. Even astronauts connected the International Space Station request to question structure successful their spacecraft to debar the harmful radiation effects of star flares. Future astronauts connected the satellite volition beryllium nether akin threats from star storms.

Predicting convulsive star events is challenging due to the fact that the aboveground of the prima is simply a complicated, convulsive spot that is ever changing, partially owed to the information that the equator of our prima rotates faster than the poles. This causes turbulence successful the blistery gasses and twists the almighty magnet field  into loops that tin snap, releasing worldly into space. The prima besides goes done cycles each 11 years wherever star enactment waxes and wanes. We are successful a play of star maximum astatine the moment, truthful monitoring its enactment is important.

These caller corrective lenses, which tin besides beryllium fitted to different star telescopes, volition alteration scientists to dive into the enigma of wherefore the corona is truthful blistery and however star disturbances originate. This could amended predictions successful abstraction upwind truthful warnings tin beryllium issued earlier.

As with upwind connected Earth, an close semipermanent upwind forecast tin beryllium vital. Hopefully this volition mean we spot abstraction upwind coming much clearly.