创记录高解析的太阳米粒组织影像

2020 February 3

Solar Granules at Record High Resolution
Image Credit: NSO, NSF, AURA, Inouye Solar Telescope

Explanation: Why does the Sun’s surface keep changing? The help find out, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has built the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, USA. The Inouye telescope has a larger mirror that enables the capturing of images of higher resolution, at a faster rate, and in more colors than ever before. Featured are recently-released first-light images taken over 10 minutes and combined into a 5-second time-lapse video. The video captures an area on the Sun roughly the size of our Earth, features granules roughly the size of a country, and resolves features as small as 30-kilometers across. Granule centers are bright due to the upwelling hot solar plasma, while granule edges are dim due to the cooled plasma falling back. Some regions between granules edges are very bright as they are curious magnetic windows into a deep and hotter solar interior. How the Sun’s magnetic field keeps changing, channeling energy, and affecting the distant Earth, among many other topics, will be studied for years to come using data from the new Inouye telescope.

创记录高解析的太阳米粒组织影像
影像提供: NSO , NSF , AURA , Inouye Solar Telescope

说明: 为何太阳的表面变幻不休？为找答案提供助力，美国国家科学基金会（NSF）特地在美国．夏威夷建造了井上 太阳望远镜。拥有更大集光镜面的井上望远镜，能够用比以前更高的解析力、更高的速率和在更多的波段取像。上面这部历时5秒的缩时影片，即是串接压缩自最近刚发布，摄于10分钟期间的井上望远镜首道光影像。这部影片呈现的区域之大小约和地球相当，其中的米粒组织之跨幅则约等同于一个国家，而影像能解析的最小结构小至30公里宽。米粒组织的中心之所以较明亮，是因为该区是炽热太阳电浆涌升之处，而较暗的米粒组织边缘，则是降温后的电浆回落之处。不过，有些米粒组织边缘间的接缝却是极为明亮，这是因为它们是令人好奇的磁场窗口，让我们得以一窥更深更热的太阳内部。为何太阳的磁场不停变化，并传送能量影响远处的地球？这些及其他题材，在接下来的数年之中，都可以借助新建的井上望远镜之数据加以探讨。（Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope 井上望远镜）