A European and NASA spacecraft has snapped the closest pictures ever taken of the sun, revealing countless little “campfires” flaring everywhere. Scientists on Thursday released the first images taken by Solar Orbiter, launched from Cape Canaveral in February. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is flying much closer to the sun than Solar Orbiter — too close for cameras to safely photograph the sun. These so-called campfires, Berghmans noted, are “literally everywhere we look.” Not yet well understood, they could be mini explosions, or nanoflares. “This is just the beginning of the long epic journey of Solar Orbiter,” Muller said.

Source: The Standard July 16, 2020 15:11 UTC