The U.S National Aeronautics and Space Administration published a photo showing the true colors of the Sun. It wasn't red, yellow, and not even orange as what we previously thought.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, released an image of the Sun on Thursday. The image above shows that our nearest star is indeed rainbow-like. The varying colors are due to the wide range of wavelengths that are visible with a telescope but are invisible to the naked eye.
The SDO is a mission funded by the space agency intended to observe the Sun for over five years. The mission began early 2010 as scientists wanted to find out how our star affects life and society. It has already captured several images of the Sun but it is the first time it presented the actual image of the wavelengths.
The image above is an illustration, specifically the converted photo, of the wavelengths. SDO made adjustments as the original is not visible to human eye. When made into a movie, the images formed a rainbow.
The color of the wavelengths depend on the strength of the light emitted by the source. 5800 Angstroms which is seen as a yellow light emits about 10000 degrees Fahrenheit. Yellow light is generally seen at the surface of the sun. Atoms which emit 11 million degress Fahrenheit makes up ultraviolet light with 94 Angstroms.
The study does not only show the colors of the sun as time goes by, it also provides scientists a way to track the process of how particles and heat move through the atmosphere of the sun.
Associate director of heliophysics at NASA Goddard Alex Young told ABC News that, “towards the center, the puffy-cloud areas are coronal holes” .
The main reason we made this graphic was for people to see how these different structures are all connected," Young stated. "Ultimately, we want to understand all of the complicated structures that drive solar activity."
