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NuSTAR Takes Beautiful X-ray Image of Sol
New submitter swell points out a new image release from NASA, the first taken of the Sun by its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). It's the most sensitive shot ever taken in the high-energy X-ray range of the spectrum. Direct image link.
While the sun is too bright for other telescopes such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, NuSTAR can safely look at it without the risk of damaging its detectors. The sun is not as bright in the higher-energy X-rays detected by NuSTAR, a factor that depends on the temperature of the sun's atmosphere. ... With NuSTAR's high-energy views, it has the potential to capture hypothesized nanoflares -- smaller versions of the sun's giant flares that erupt with charged particles and high-energy radiation. Nanoflares, should they exist, may explain why the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, is sizzling hot, a mystery called the "coronal heating problem." The corona is, on average, 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), while the surface of the sun is relatively cooler at 10,800 Fahrenheit (6,000 degrees Celsius). It is like a flame coming out of an ice cube. Nanoflares, in combination with flares, may be sources of the intense heat.
PIA18906 just became my new wallpaper. Forget the technical stuff, that is just beautiful.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
NuSTAR has 4x imaging planes sensitive to the ~3keV to 78keV spectrum, each of those 4 sensors only has a resolution of 32x32 pixels (64x64 pixels combined).
Feel lucky they bothered to spend the time they did scanning as much of the sun that they did, at the resolution they did.
Not a big deal. When people say something that may be ambiguous, and the context doesn't resolve it, they'll just add more context. So, our martian explorer could say "Moon" when it's obvious what moon he's talking about, or switch to "Phobos" when there could be a chance of misinterpretation. People do this all the time.
Sunne (or Sunna) was the OE/Germanic/Scandinavian name for the Sun (thus it's common name). Sol is the latin name for our Sun. That's why our star system is the "solar" system. It tweaks my OCD when people -especially scientists- refer to another star system as a "solar" system. /= star, it means our particular star. Though I have a feeling continued usage of it in manner will ultimately change the definition.
Sol
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
That's why our star system is the "solar" system.
Plenty of words drift or even start out meaning things much more general or abstract than their root components. Geyser used to refer to a very specific spring in Iceland, and now refers to any similar one regardless of location for example.