Recently, a new telescope has allowed solar scientists to see the surface of the Sun in more detail than ever before. Although each of these golden kernels look small in size, each one can be estimated to be about the size of Texas to make up our Sun. These kernels compose the magnetic field of the star. The telescope is located in Hawaii on the island of Maui, this being one of three instruments that will be a part of the facility to study the Sun in more detail. The solar astronomers working on the project use the technique spectroscopy — this is looking at the different wavelengths of light coming from, in this case, the Sun. While the Earth has a stable magnetic field, the Sun rather has a dynamic magnetic field, which makes it really interesting to study. The new instruments pose the possibility that we can study space weather more as well.
What do you think of the Sun’s surface? What more do you think we can discover from the Sun?
Astronomy 2110-01 