NASA has released a jaw-dropping image of the Sun, which appears to be sending out Xrays.
The US space agency took to its Instagram on Sunday to reveal the stunning stellar Photo, which was taken with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array
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What is NuSTAR?
NuSTAR is an X-ray telescope based in space that focuses on high-energy radiations from astrophysical sources.
It allows astronomers to map microflares in the Sun’s surface using a method that observes the cosmos.
Viewers can see multi-color, X-rays from the sun in the composite NuSTAR Nasa image. It is overlayed with one from Solar Dynamics Observatory.
“Observations from NuSTAR shows high-energy solar emissions of various strength in green and blue, while the SDO view highlights lower-temperature material in the solar atmosphere in red,”In its post, Nasa explained.
What does this X-ray color signify?
This image is green and shows energies between 2 – 3 kiloelectronvolts (or KV).
Meanwhile, the blue indicates points between 3 and 5 kiloelectron volts; one keV is equal to 1000 electron volts.
Nasa noted that high-energy Xrays are also produced by gas heated to over 3 million degrees.
What is the SDO and what are its benefits?
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, a Nasa mission, has been watching the Sun from 2010 to date.
SDO allows astronomers to study the Sun in a new way than NuSTAR.
SDO monitors, in particular, the “Sun’s influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere and magnetic field,” Nasa said.
Reactions from users
Since its launch, thousands of Instagram users liked Nasa’s photo.
“Amazement,”One user shared his opinion.
“We love you Nasa,”An additional person may be added.
“Omg, very very gorgeous,”A third Instagrammer declared.