The Daniel K. Inouye Space Telescope has entered service after a decade in the making, and these are the high-resolution images it captured of the Sun.
The Sun , a fiery star that illuminates our galaxy, is a rather complicated object of study due to the intense heat it emits, capable of burning and even melting conventional space instruments.
Therefore, solar observatories with the appropriate conditions for this task are necessary and the Daniel K. Inouye , the largest in the world, finally joins the investigation of this celestial body officially.
This solar telescope is the latest in the network operated by the US National Science Foundation ( NSF ). The Daniel K. Inouye Observatory was planned 25 years ago and has been under construction for the past decade. However, it finally entered service on August 31 and its first operational images have already drawn the attention of the scientific community.
The highest resolution images of the Sun
This solar telescope is the most powerful due to its four-meter mirror capable of capturing photographs of the atmosphere and the solar surface with unprecedented resolution. Thanks to this sensor, Daniel K. Inouye is capable of generating images with a level of detail four times higher than any other observatory with these characteristics.
Thanks to the spectropolarimetry instruments that are integrated into the solar telescope, the Daniel K. Inouye can measure with absolute precision the movement and behavior of the different particles that move in the Sun at the atomic level. In this way, the observatory will be the ideal medium that will provide a greater understanding of solar dynamics.
Daniel K. Inouye and his results
The Solar Telescope couple is located at the Mount Haleakalā Observatory on the Hawaiian island of Maui . The Daniel K. Inouye has been responsible for images of a quality that exceeds even those of the European Solar Orbiter probe . In 2020, he captured the first test photograph of it and thanks to it a sunspot could be seen in detail never seen before.
According to what the National Science Foundation team explains , via IFL Science , the Sun is at its solar minimum, which means that it hardly has sunspots or turbulent activities. When this cycle ends and the star returns to normal, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope promises to offer even more spectacular views of this fiery celestial body.
