The first scientific data of the solar orbiter show that the sun is in the most calm state.

Three instruments of the empire of the sun orbiter, including the British Empire magnetometer, have released their first data.

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbit spacecraft was launched in February 2020. Its mission is to study the sun and start collecting scientific data in June. Now, three of its ten instruments have released the first batch of data, revealing the state of the sun in the "calm" stage.

As we all know, the sun follows the 1 1 year cycle of sunspot activity, and there are almost no sunspots at present. With the increase of sunspot activity, this will change in the next few years, which will lead to the sun becoming more active and increase the chances of unfavorable "space weather" events, that is, the sun releases a lot of materials and energy in solar flares and coronal matter. Ejection.

The activity of the sun is closely related to the state of the magnetic field, which is measured by the emperor instrument magnetometer (MAG) on the solar orbiter. Since June, MAG has recorded hundreds of millions of "vectors", that is, measurements of the direction and intensity of the solar magnetic field.

The solar orbiter has already flown in the orbit of Venus. So far, some data closest to the sun have been collected, and it will gradually approach the sun in the next few years. It is currently in orbit near the equator of the sun, and it will present a very curved magnetic field when it moves.

However, at present, the magnetic "equator" of the sun is very flat with the real equator, which allows the spacecraft to observe the magnetic field for several weeks in the northern magnetic hemisphere, while it is only a few degrees north of the equator. In the period of frequent solar activity, when the magnetic equator of the sun is more curved, it is impossible to see the polarity of a single magnetic field for a long time.

MAG also observed waves caused by protons and electrons flowing down from the sun. Closer to the earth, these particles are more evenly distributed in the whole solar wind of charged particles flowing from the sun, but there are also "beams" of protons and electrons from the sun in the solar orbiter.

MAG confirmed the existence of "folds"-there are more structures in the solar wind, which confirmed the existence of "folds"-Parker solar probe recorded the serious folds in the solar wind for the first time, which was a task initiated by NASA on 20 18.

The solar orbiter and Parker Solar Detector will cooperate in the next few years to compare the data of the same phenomenon that the sun moves at different distances and orbits when it wakes up and enters the next sunspot cycle.

Proof of hard work

The data released today is part of Solar Orbiter's commitment to release data within three months after reaching the ground, which is an urgent timetable for any space mission, but it is particularly challenging during the epidemic. Professor Tim Horbury, principal researcher of MAG in Imperial Physics Department, said that the fact that the data was ready on time proved the hard work of the Imperial Engineering Team.

He said: "In the past few months, they have worked very hard. This is a huge job. " But it was worth it. "A lot of what we have published has not been really understood in detail. So, I believe there will be more miracles-we just don't know what they are. There are many things worth doing, and I really hope people can participate. "

The first challenge facing the team is to eliminate the tiny magnetic field signal of the spacecraft itself. Almost everything on the spacecraft that runs on electricity will produce a changing magnetic field, which must be deleted from the data to get the real signal from the sun. These include solar panels, thrusters, other scientific instruments and more than 50 individual heaters.

When different parts of the spacecraft are opened, the research team must get data from all these people to eliminate their signals. But Professor Hobri said that it was all worthwhile: "This is just the beginning, but the data is already very exciting and rich."

He said: "The solar orbiter keeps its promise. We have always known that this will be a wonderful task, and the early measurement results show the potential for unprecedented insight into the sun. "

Helen O'Brien, MAG Instrument Manager, said: "MAG has performed well for seven months. Before the launch, we have tested on the earth, but we can't perfectly reproduce the harsh space environment. Of course, MAG won't experience it for a long time.

"I am very happy to see the first batch of data released. But this is really just the beginning. In 65438+February, the spacecraft flew over Venus, and then in February next year, we returned to half the distance between the sun and the earth. Too proud! "