Hinode sees the dynamic and violent sun as sharply as never before
Hinode, the newest solar observatory on the space scene, has obtained never-before-seen images showing that the sun’s magnetic field is much more turbulent and dynamic than previously known.Hinode, Japanese for ’sunrise’, was launched on 23 September 2006 to study the sun’s magnetic field and how its explosive energy propagates through the different layers of the solar atmosphere.
“For the first time, we are now able to make out tiny granules of hot gas that rise and fall in the sun’s magnified atmosphere,” said Dick Fisher, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division. “These images will open up a new era of study on some of the sun’s processes that effect Earth, astronauts, orbiting satellites and the solar system.”
