Spacecraft “hack” leads to never-before-seen views of the Sun

An ultraviolet image of the Sun’s corona taken using the EUI occulter. An ultraviolet image of the Sun’s disc has been superimposed in the middle, in the area left blank by the occulter. This visual made available September 6, 2023 with news of the scientific report. Photo released by SWNS September 8, 2023. See SWNS story SWMRsolar. (Use full credit: ESA/NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team; F. Auchère et al (2023)/SWNS.) A spacecraft “hack” has led to never-before-seen views of the Sun. Scientists have used Solar Orbiter’s EUI camera in a new mode of operation to record part of the Sun’s atmosphere at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths that has been almost impossible to image until now. This new mode of operation was made possible with a last-minute ‘hack’ to the camera and will almost certainly influence new solar instruments for future missions. Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) returns high-resolution images of the structures in the Sun’s atmosphere. Scientists call this region the corona. During EUI’s construction, a last-minute modification to the safety door on the front of the instrument has allowed it to see deeper into its target region than originally specified.