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EUI - Magnetic Footprints

HRI Lyman AlphaHRI Lyman Alpha, part 2

HRILYA - High Resolution Lyman alpha Imager - CREDIT: ESA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team: CSL, IAS, MPS, PMOD/WRC, ROB, UCL/MSSL.

Magnetic footprints
The ‘network’ in the images is characteristic of a lower region of the solar atmosphere known as the chromosphere. In the chromosphere, and transition region above it, the temperature jumps from about ten-thousand to hundred-thousand degrees Kelvin. It is a region where the magnetic field of the Sun starts to play a more important role compared to the solar surface. The pattern of the network is produced by moving solar material underneath, but some bright features can correspond to the footprints of magnetic structures higher up in the corona. To be checked!


Technical Info
These solar images have been produced by the "High Resolution Lyman alpha Imager" (HRILYA), which is part of the EUI instrument. The images show the solar surface in a particular ultraviolet wavelength that is produced by hydrogen, the most abundant chemical element in the universe. The wavelength is known as Lyman-alpha and has a wavelength of 121.6 nm. It can not be observed from the Earth's surface as this wavelength is blocked by the Earth atmosphere. The raspberry colour has been artificially added to help visual identification of these images. EUI has produced these images from roughly halfway between the Earth and the Sun, closer to the Sun than any other solar telescope ever. This allows it to see small features of only a few hundred km in size.