NASA and the European Space Agency released the closest ever images of the sun, revealing a glimpse at “campfires” exploding on the surface of the solar system’s star. The images were taken by the Solar Orbiter, a spacecraft operated by NASA and ESA that successfully launched in February from Cape Canaveral, Florida, despite less-than-ideal work-from-home conditions and a skeleton crew necessitated by COVID-19. The craft’s mission is “studying the sun up close, taking high-resolution images of the sun’s poles for the first time and understanding the sun-Earth connection,” according to the ESA website. Holly Gilbert, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, called the pictures “unprecedented” visuals that will “help scientists piece together the sun’s atmospheric layers” and develop a stronger understanding of space weather, according to a news release Thursday.

Source: Huffington Post July 16, 2020 23:03 UTC