Scientists Hack Camera of Space Probe for Observing Sun

Scientists working on the spacecraft project to observe the sun have used a simple trick to one of its chambers, which allowed them to study the rarely observed regions of the atmosphere of the Sun.

Thanks to a small modification on the Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) camera, the team was able to write part of the atmosphere of the Sun on extremely ultraviolet waves. This modification consisted in adding a small protrusion that blocked the bright light emanating from the sun, which would allow to see the weaker light of its atmosphere.

Frederick Osher, astrophysicist from the Institute of Astrophysics University of Paris-Syud and a member of the EUI team, said: “It was a real hack. I had an idea to just make it and see if it will work. It is actually a very simple modification of the tool.”

EUI creates highly perceptting images of structures in the atmosphere of the Sun. The result was the ultraviolet image of the Crown of the Sun. The ultraviolet image of the Sun disk was imposed in the center, in the area left empty thanks to this “hack”, as the European Space Agency (ESA) reported.

The crown is usually hidden by the bright light of the surface of the Sun and is mainly visible during a complete solar eclipse. The “hack” of the camera creates an effect similar to the effect of the eclipse, blocking the light of the sun. The temperature of the crown reaches 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), which is one of the greatest secrets of our star.

Daniel Müller, a design scientist ESA for Solar Orbiter, said: “We have shown that the method works so well that now you can consider a new type of tool that can simultaneously create images of the sun and its crown.”

Esa’s Solar Orbiter was launched in 2020 in order to obtain images of the Sun at the distance closest to it, using six tools to solve the secrets of this star.