Taking such images from earth would be impossible, because the planet’s atmosphere blocks 75 percent of ultraviolet radiation.
The 20 images of the sun were taken over the 20 years of SOHO’s scientific exploration, all of them in springtime.
When put together they create a clear picture of the 11-year solar activity cycle, with the brightest images occurring around the time of maximum solar activity.
“At these times, the magnetic field of the Sun is highly dynamic, changing its configuration and releasing energy, partly in the form of ultraviolet radiation into space,” ESA explains in a press release.
One of the greatest puzzles about the sun is the extremely high temperature of its corona, the plasma aura stretching millions of kilometers from the Sun. Measuring some 2 million degrees Celsius, its temperature far surpasses that of the star’s surface, which is only about 5,700°C. The sun’s magnetic activity is suspected to be the cause of the disparity, but the exact mechanism remains unknown.
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