TORONTO – The newly-launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite has released its first image revealing stunning detail of the sun.
The telescope first opened its door on July 17 and began to image the sun in unprecedented detail.
IRIS shows thin structures, revealing extreme contrasts in the sun’s density and temperature.
The satellite was launched to help scientists better understand the workings of our nearest star, mainly the lowest layer of the sun’s atmosphere. The transfer of energy within this region may help power the sun’s million-degree atmosphere and drive the solar wind that streams out and spreads across our solar system.
“The quality of the images and spectra we are receiving from IRIS is amazing — this is just what we were hoping for,” said Alan Title, IRIS principal investigator at Lockheed Martin in Palo Alto, Calif. “There is much work ahead to understand what we’re seeing, but the quality of the data will enable us to do that.”
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