Skip to main content

See the ‘quiet’ of the sun’s corona in Solar Orbiter footage

Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency (ESA) mission that launched in 2020 and which includes the closest camera to the sun, has made a second close approach of our star and has captured stunning footage of the sun’s corona.

Solar Orbiter’s unprecedented view of the quiet corona

The spacecraft made its closest approach on 12 October at 21:12 EST, when it came within less than one-third of the distance between Earth and the sun. Using its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument it captured this video of the corona on October 13.

Recommended Videos

The corona is the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere, and it stretches out for millions of miles from the sun’s surface. It is also hotter than the surface of the sun, reaching temperatures over a million degrees Celsius.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

At the time the images of the corona were taken, it was described as “quiet,” meaning that there were no flares or coronal mass ejections occurring. Even so, the corona is active and changing as the extremely hot plasma moves around due to changes in the sun’s magnetic field. This relative calm will be less common in the coming months and years as the sun’s activity is currently increasing and is set to peak in 2025 when it reaches a point called the solar maximum. This is the most active point in the 11-year cycle of solar activity.

The images captured by the EUI instrument cover 65 miles per pixel, so the total image represents an area equivalent to 17 Earths stacked side by side. Solar Orbiter is also armed with a variety of other instruments for both remote sensing and taking in-situ measurements which record data such as magnetic fields, radio and plasma waves, and various types of imagery.

More data from the close approach will be coming over the next weeks as the spacecraft is traveling in the direction of Earth and so can downlink more data. “I am very much looking forward to data from all 10 instruments being downloaded during the next few weeks, and then the worldwide science community will be very busy discovering new things using this unique data set,” said Daniel Müller, ESA Project Scientist for Solar Orbiter, in a statement.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
What kind of view will ISS astronauts get of the solar eclipse?
A total solar eclipse.

NASA Astronauts Talk about the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

In case you haven’t heard, a total solar eclipse is about to happen.

Read more
How to safely watch April’s total solar eclipse, in person or online
A person watches the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023, in Kerrville, Texas.

Next month will see a rare and exciting astronomical event: a total solar eclipse that will be viewable across much of North America. On Monday, April 8, the moon will pass directly between the Earth and the sun, blocking out the sun's rays and temporarily causing dusk, then darkness in the middle of the day.

In 15 U.S. states, darkness will descend for several minutes across the course of an hour, enabling a unique experience for those within the viewing radius. But though this is a wonderous event to behold, you'll need to be careful if you wish to view the eclipse, as doing so without the right equipment can damage your eyes. NASA has shared tips on how to safely view the eclipse, and the agency will also provide a live stream of views of the eclipse for those who can't see it in person.
How to view the solar eclipse safely
A person watches the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023, in Kerrville, Texas. NASA

Read more
Help NASA in its quest to learn more about our sun
Scientists have used the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) in a new mode of operation to record part of the Sun’s atmosphere that has been almost impossible to image until now. By covering the Sun’s bright disc with an ‘occulter’ inside the instrument, EUI can detect the million-times fainter ultraviolet light coming from the surrounding corona.

SunSketcher Solar Eclipse Project Tutorial

NASA is calling on citizen astronomers in the U.S. to help it learn more about our sun.

Read more