New photos from the Aug 12 total solar eclipse show the sun’s corona in incredible detail.
What they saw
The Solar Wind Sherpas team, coordinated by the University of Hawaii, shot from Pico Trigaza in Spain. Their images show “smoke rings,” twisted vortices in the solar wind first spotted in 2008. Researchers now think temperature differences in coronal plasma form them and that they spread along magnetic field lines far into space. The photos also show a giant coronal hole, where the field opens up and solar wind escapes at up to 500 miles per second. The moon blocks the sun’s disk almost perfectly, which gives a better view of the inner corona than coronagraphs can.
My take
The moon is just the right size and distance to cover the sun exactly. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). Every eclipse is a reminder of that.
God Bless, and Use the Source!
