Why This Recent Total Solar Eclipse Was the First of Its Kind

The outer atmosphere of the sun – the horona – reveals only itself during the solar overall eclipse, which occurs almost every 18 months on Earth, and can only be seen along a narrow path. These events provide scientists a rare opportunity to monitor the violent surface of the sun – but now, they will not have to wait for the universe to do so.

On Monday 16 June, European Space Agency (ESA) Declare Its mission is Proba-3 created the first total eclipse in the world. The mission is compatible in the task, the target and the corongraph, independently in space to dismantle the surface of the sun and take pictures of the aura. The success of the Proba-3 will not only reach access to solar data-it also shows a completely new level of satellite formation that flies.

Andrei Chocov, the main researcher at the Association of Space Vehicles to measure the polarization and photography in the rosemary (ASPIICS) at the Royal Observatory in Belgium, according to ESA, according to ESA.

The agency launched the Proba-3 Mission on December 5, 2024And send Jackulter and Coronagraph to the orbit of solar energy. In May, satellites achieved something that no spacecraft did before: Cronagraph An independent alignment in space with a millimeter (0.04 inches) And maintain their relative position for hours without any interference in the ground.

To create an artificial eclipse, satellites had to be in line with a tablet of about 500 feet (150 meters) between them, allowing the 4.6 -feet Occuleter (1.4 -meter) tablet to dump 3 inches (8 ° C) on the coronary optical tool. This set out on the surface of the sun from a Coronagraph perspective, allowing it to photograph the rugged Corona.

“Our pictures” artificial eclipse “are comparable to those taken during the natural eclipse. “The difference is that we can create Eclipse once every orbit 19.6 hours, while the total solar eclipse occurs only naturally, and rarely lasts twice a year. Moreover, the natural total eclipse lasts only a few minutes, while Proba-3 can carry its artificial eclipse for up to 6 hours.”

This first round of the coronary images offers a glimpse of the valuable data that this eclipse will produce, according to ESA. Horona study is of scientific value for several reasons. On the one hand, Corona leads the solar winds – the continuous flow of the sun’s molecules from the sun to outer space – and explosive jets of very magnetic plasma called ejaculation the coronary mass. Monitoring these forces is necessary to understand solar weather, which can affect the moons of the Earth, communication systems and energy networks.

The visions of Proba-3 and subsequent missions to photograph Corona can help scientists to be better prepared to threaten the severe solar storm. in May, Participants from several American agencies managed the first emergency exercises in the solar stormDetecting the main shortcomings in the ability of scientists to predict space weather and protect critical infrastructure.

Corona may also have an answer to a scientific mystery. This outer layer of the atmosphere of the sun extends to millions of miles to space, but it reaches about 200 times hotter than the sun. Experts have Described This puzzling phenomenon, which is called the problem of coronary heating, as “one of the most severe questions in modern solar physics.”

The Proba-3 mission aims to solve this puzzle using the Coronagraph visual tool to study Horona near the surface of the sun, according to ESA. This modern tool reduces the stray amount of light that reaches the detector, allowing it to capture more details and discover bright features more than traditional fractures in the past.

“The existing corners are not suitable for the Proba-3, which will notice the sun’s Corona almost to the edge of the solar surface,” George Amia, coordinator of the UEFA space weather modeling, said in the agency’s announcement. “Until now, this was only possible during the natural solar eclipse.”

In addition to making valuable solar sciences, the Proba-3 paves the way to forming independent accuracy that will be decisive in the tasks of overlapping space in the future multi-dishes (Lisa).

Proba-3 Will Monitor Corona’s Sun for about two years, as the photos are taken only once possible during the rare heavenly alignment. The flood of new notes must be greatly understood by scientists for our local star – the strength that makes life here on Earth possible.