The black hole hunting NuStar telescope was used to capture our own sun in the attempt for astronomers to examine our parent star. Observations revealed that there's apparently a dazzling X-ray pattern that has been emitting by the sun.
This amazing stellar image of our sun was captured by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observatory along with Japan's Hinode observatory where they created a composite image using combined data. NuStar's high energy X-rays are viewed in blue where lower energy radiations are seen in green, obtained from the Hinode observatory.
X-rays are most prominent in the sun's regions where solar flares and massive eruptions of radiation and charged particles are abundant. However, since NuStar can be overwhelmed by these powerful flares leading to the inability of the instrument to directly observe the sun, astronomers now use the tool to learn more about microflares that produce one millionth energy of a regular solar flare.
Researchers now want to test the capabilities of the instrument to view nanoflares which are gas formations measured to be 1,000 times smaller than microflares. These emissions can produce electrons at extremely high velocities that also generate X-rays that can be detected by NuStar.
Astrophysicists also believe that these nanoflares are the main sources of heat in the sun's atmosphere or corona, that can produce higher temperatures than the surface of the sun. This has proven to be an enigma for astronomers as to why the sun's atmosphere is hotter than its surface.
Apparently, the sun possesses a 22 year long cycle where it develops sunspots over a period of 11 years before the magnetic fields of these formations flip or rotate for another 11 years. Astronomers believe that the ideal time to observe these nanoflares is during the beginning of a new sunspot cycle, where activity is at a minimum.
According to Iain Hannah from the University of Glasgow, the sun is mellowing down from its solar activity cycle where it can take more or less two years to reach a minimum.
These new NuStar images of our sun are pivotal for astronomers to determine and measure the energy emissions of these flares and examine the processes involved for these releases. Scientists also believe that NuStar has the ability to detect axions that are associated with dark matter that can further explain where the mass of the universe originates from.