NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope Reveals Sun’s Quiet Side

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, located on the island of Maui in Hawaii, has released eight stunning new images of the Sun. These images, taken during the telescope’s first year of operations, provide a preview of the exciting science that is being conducted at the world’s most powerful ground-based solar telescope.

The images captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope showcase a variety of sunspots and quiet regions of the Sun. Sunspots are dark and cool regions on the Sun’s photosphere, the visible surface of the Sun, where strong magnetic fields are present. These sunspots, which can be as large as Earth or even larger, play a significant role in generating solar storms and explosive events such as flares and coronal mass ejections. Understanding these phenomena is crucial as they can impact Earth and our critical infrastructure.

In addition to sunspots, the images also reveal the quiet regions of the Sun. These regions display convection cells in the photosphere, characterized by bright patterns of hot, upward-flowing plasma surrounded by darker lanes of cooler, down-flowing solar plasma. Above the photosphere, in the chromosphere, elongated dark fibrils originating from small-scale magnetic field accumulations can be observed.

One of the primary objectives of the Inouye Solar Telescope is to better understand the Sun’s magnetic field and the drivers behind solar storms. Its unique capability to capture data in unprecedented detail will provide solar scientists with valuable insights into these phenomena. By studying the Sun’s magnetic field and its interactions, researchers can improve their ability to predict and mitigate the impact of solar storms on Earth.

The recently inaugurated Inouye Solar Telescope is currently in its Operations Commissioning Phase (OCP), a period of learning and transitioning as the observatory is gradually brought up to its full operational capabilities. During this phase, the international science community was invited to participate by submitting science proposals for specific research goals. The selected proposals were peer-reviewed and granted telescope time by the NSF’s Telescope Allocation Committee.

The newly released images represent only a small fraction of the data obtained during the telescope’s first operational cycle. The Inouye Solar Telescope’s Data Center continues to calibrate and deliver data to scientists and the public, enabling further analysis and discoveries.

As the Inouye Solar Telescope continues to explore the Sun, we can eagerly anticipate more groundbreaking results from the scientific community. With its unrivaled capabilities, this state-of-the-art telescope will provide us with spectacular views and a deeper understanding of our solar system’s most influential celestial body.

Original press release