World’s Largest Solar Telescope Captures Giant Dark Spots on the Sun’s Surface Measuring Wider Than the United States

Space exploration has advanced a lot in the last few decades. Equipment like the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) has given astronomers never-before-seen insights into several extraterrestrial bodies. Experts are continuously working on improving these tools, and a result of one of these improvements recently came out in front of the world, according to Live Science.

Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is placed on top of Haleakalā, a mountain in Hawaii. It is deemed the world's largest solar telescope and produces brilliant photographs of the sun. The objective of this telescope is to gather data that helps experts to predict solar storms and other mysterious phenomena. Such data is valuable because these storms, at their worst, can cause large-scale damage to Earth and human infrastructure.

For years, experts have been working on a camera named Visible Tunable Filter, or VTF, fitted inside the DKIST. The camera supposedly has the power to capture the most detailed pictures of the sun to date. Researchers claim that VTF has a resolution of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) per pixel on the solar surface. No other camera created by humans has ever exhibited this much power. It can capture around 10 million spectra in just one glance at the sun. 

VTF has been in development for as long as DKIST, and has always been one of its planned main components, stated Space. "The instrument is, so to speak, the heart of the solar telescope, which is now finally beating at its final destination," Matthias Schubert, the project scientist for the instrument at the Institute for Solar Physics in Germany, shared.

VTF is the fifth instrument that has been added to DKIST. The camera has been designed in such a manner that it can focus on regions where solar eruptions happen, with the highest level of precision. Places on the sun where such eruptions occur are either the photosphere or the chromosphere. At present, the camera is in its technical test phase and has already produced a stunning picture. An image recently released to the public, which has been attributed to VITF, features a sunspot. This sunspot measures 241 million square miles in size.

Future planned operations of VTF will supposedly further process these images and reveal even finer details. Researchers are hopeful that such images will help them understand the interactions between hot plasma and magnetic fields, which supposedly produce solar eruptions.

A sunspot is defined as a dark blob that happens on the solar surface due to an intense magnetic field, stated Live Science. Seeing one at such a close distance elated the scientists regarding the instrument's potential.

Researchers claim that VITF has several unique features that make it stand out from other solar cameras. The capability of capturing images from different wavelengths of light while at the same time collecting insights on the orientation exhibited by light's electric field aids the instrument in having a multifaceted approach. This means that they can gather information on several aspects of the sun at the same time. These aspects include data on the solar surface, plasma, and magnetic field.