Although the Sun’s bright surface is familiar to humanity, its outer atmosphere, known as the corona, remains one of the greatest mysteries in solar science. To uncover the secrets of this region, the European Space Agency (ESA) has achieved a major technological breakthrough by creating an artificial solar eclipse in space using a pair of satellites to study the Sun’s inner corona.
The two satellites of ESA’s Proba-3 mission have precisely aligned themselves in space over the past year and created more than 50 artificial solar eclipses. As a result, scientists no longer need to wait only for rare natural solar eclipses and can now observe the Sun’s corona whenever required.
Scientists say that the region just above the Sun’s surface is where solar winds are generated and released into space at extremely high speeds. The same area is also the source of coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—massive solar eruptions that send charged particles toward Earth. When these particles reach our planet, they can disrupt satellite communications, power grids, and radio signals.
Until now, scientists have been able to capture images of the Sun’s surface and distant corona, but they lacked sufficient data about the critical intermediate region known as the inner corona. The Proba-3 mission has opened a new window for studying this previously difficult-to-observe area.
A total solar eclipse on Earth usually occurs only once or twice a year and lasts for just a few minutes. In contrast, the Proba-3 satellites can create an artificial eclipse every 19 hours and 40 minutes, with each observation period lasting nearly six hours.
Joe Zender, project scientist of the Proba-3 mission, said that scientists have conducted around 250 hours of observations in recent months. He noted that the amount of data collected during this short period is comparable to what researchers could obtain from natural solar eclipses over many years.
According to Zender, the mission operates with two separate spacecraft positioned with extraordinary precision. One satellite blocks the Sun’s bright light, while the other remains behind it to capture images of the corona. The most remarkable achievement, he said, is that the two spacecraft can maintain their relative positions with millimeter-level accuracy for extended periods without direct human control.
Zender described the technology as a new milestone in the history of space exploration, demonstrating an unprecedented level of precision in spacecraft control.
By combining data from three European space missions, scientists have produced detailed images showing the Sun’s surface in yellow, the outer corona in red, and the previously hidden inner corona in green. These observations have allowed researchers, for the first time, to track the complete development path of a solar eruption.
Damien Galano, Proba-3 mission manager, said the satellites’ advanced positioning technology is enabling scientists to study unknown regions of the solar atmosphere in greater detail. He added that the mission is helping address one of the major knowledge gaps in solar science.
Source: Earth.com.