Scientists have taken incredible high-resolution of the sun, showing its intricate honeycomb-like structure.
Using GREGOR, the largest solar telescope in Europe, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics were able to take the amazingly detailed photos.
The powerful telescope allows scientists to see details as small as 50 km on the sun.
This is the equivalent of seeing a needle on a football pitch from a distance of one kilometre away!
Dr Lucia Kleint, who led the project, said: “This was a very exciting, but also extremely challenging project.
“In only one year we completely redesigned the optics, mechanics, and electronics to achieve the best possible image quality.”
While telescope upgrades usually take years, the scientists were able to achieve a major technical breakthrough while stranded at the observatory during lockdown.
Professor Svetlana Berdyugina, professor at the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg and Director of the Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics (KIS), said: “The project was rather risky because such telescope upgrades usually take years, but the great team work and meticulous planning have led to this success.
“Now we have a powerful instrument to solve puzzles on the Sun.”
The new images, which were snapped in July, reveal amazing details of sunspot evolution and intricate structures of solar plasma.
The team now hopes to use the telescope to study magnetic fields, convection, turbulence, solar eruptions and sunspots in great detail.
