Our Local Star

[NSF/AURA] This newly released image from the National Science Foundation (NSF) was taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is the largest solar telescope in the world.

This view of an active region was captured in H-alpha light with the Inouye’s Visible Broadband Imager (VBI).

H-alpha light reveals details of the solar chromosphere, where the interaction between magnetic fields and solar plasma generate intricate filamentary structures, called fibrils, and bright regions, called plages.

This image also shows a large sunspot and its surrounding penumbra.

This image was created using scientific data processed for general audiences and is not intended for scientific analysis. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope was built and operated by the NSF National Solar Observatory in Maui, Hawai’i.

Astrobiology, Space Weather,