Plasma of the Sun. Taken by Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope on Jan. 12, 2007, this image of the sun reveals the filamentary nature of the plasma connecting regions of different magnetic polarity. Hinode captures these very dynamic pictures of the chromosphere. The chromosphere is a thin "layer" of solar atmosphere "sandwiched" between the visible surface, photosphere, and corona. Image credit: Hinode JAXA/NASA
Washington, Mar.22: A Japanese space telescope called Hinode has achieved success in revealing certain surprising characteristics of the Sun, previously not known to humans.
Among the characteristics revealed is the restless bubbling and frothing of the Sun's chaotic surface, which has astonished astronomers around the world.
"Everything we thought we knew about X-ray images of the Sun is now out of date," scientists told a NASA press conference in Washington on Wednesday.
According to Leon Golub from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. "We've seen many new and unexpected things. For that reason alone, the mission is already a success."
Hinode (Japanese for "sunrise") was launched in September 2006 to study the solar magnetic field and how magnetic energy is released as the field rises into the Sun's outer atmosphere. The mission was formerly known as Solar-B.
The spacecraft has an optical solar telescope (SOT), an X-ray telescope (XRT) and an ultraviolet spectrometer. It orbits the Earth in a permanent twilight zone between night and day, which gives it a continuous view of the Sun.
The Sun's Chromosphere. Taken by Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope on Nov. 11, 2006, this image reveals the fine scale structure in the chromosphere that extends outward above the top of the convection cells, or granulation, of the photosphere. The structure results from the interaction of hot ionized gas with the magnetic field. Image credit: Hinode JAXA/NASA
Hinode has sent back startling images of the Sun's outer limb. Where astronomers expected to see a calm region called the chromosphere, they saw a seething mass of swaying spikes.
"These structures are 8000 kilometers long and some extend twice that high," said SOT science team member Alan Title from Lockheed Martin Advance Technology Center in Palo Alto in California.
"Their speed is such that if you sat on the end of one, which I don't recommend, you could travel from Washington, DC, to San Francisco in about four minutes. These things are really moving," he added.
Magnetic Field Around a Sunspot. Taken by Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope on Nov. 20, 2006, this image reveals the structure of the solar magnetic field rising vertically from a sunspot, an area of strong magnetic field, outward into the solar atmosphere. At the edges of the sunspot the field lines bend over to reconnect with field of opposite polarity. Image credit: Hinode JAXA/NASA
Another surprise sighting is that of giant magnetic field loops crashing down onto the Sun's surface as if they were collapsing from exhaustion, a finding that Golub describes as "impossible".
Previously, scientists thought they should emerge from the Sun and continue blowing out into space.
Astronomers do not yet know what to make of the surprises, but they hope Hinode will help solve many big puzzles.
One is that the temperature of the Sun's tenuous outermost atmosphere, or corona, is far hotter than the layers underneath, which are nearer its energy-generating core.
Astronomers hope the Hinode's clear view of the Sun will also help them identify the magnetic field configurations that lead to the most explosive energy releases of all. That would enable better forecasts of stormy "space weather", when solar eruptions can interfere with satellite communications and disrupt electricity supply networks on the ground. (ANI)