First Glimpse of Sun's Mysterious Atmosphere

[Waspie_Dwarf]

NASA's IRIS Telescope Offers First Glimpse of Sun's Mysterious Atmosphere

The moment when a telescope first opens its doors represents the culmination of years of work and planning -- while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a wealth of research and answers yet to come. It is a moment of excitement and perhaps even a little uncertainty. On July 17, 2013, the international team of scientists and engineers who supported and built NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, all lived through that moment. As the spacecraft orbited around Earth, the door of the telescope opened to view the mysterious lowest layers of the sun's atmosphere and the results thus far are nothing short of amazing. The data is crisp and clear, showing unprecedented detail of this little-observed region.

"These beautiful images from IRIS are going to help us understand how the sun's lower atmosphere might power a host of events around the sun," said Adrian Daw, the mission scientist for IRIS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Anytime you look at something in more detail than has ever been seen before, it opens up new doors to understanding. There's always that potential element of surprise."

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[MyInnerShadow]

Fascinating pictures in the article too, it's amazing just how many different things are actually taking place in and on the sun at every moment; it's so much more than just a hot ball of fire, but sometimes it's too easy to just overlook that.

[kannin]

beautiful! awsome post waspie thanx very very much! ive been waiting for a post like this

[Waspie_Dwarf]

IRIS First Light Video

First Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) movie, 21 hours after opening the telescope door. This video has been slowed forty percent and looped four times to show greater detail.

Credit: NASA/IRIS

Source: NASA - Multimedia

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Comparing SDO to IRIS

This video compares the Solar Dynamics Observatory's (SDO) resolution with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) resolution for the same region of the sun.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia

[kannin]

amazing