Hinode's X-Ray Telescope Reveals the Sun's Secrets

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Some imagine the shape of a swan in this recent photograph of a portion of the suns surface taken with the X-Ray Telescope on board the Hinode spacecraft. This image shows the magnetic field structure of active region 10940 as it nears the limb (visi ...
Some imagine the shape of a swan in this recent photograph of a portion of the sun's surface taken with the X-Ray Telescope on board the Hinode spacecraft. This image shows the magnetic field structure of active region 10940 as it nears the limb (visible edge) of the Sun. Similar photos taken previously by the Yohkoh spacecraft showed only a continuous, S-shaped formation. In comparison, the X-Ray Telescope sees a detailed structure composed of discontinuous, distinguishable threads highly interwoven with the surrounding plasma. Credit: JAXA/NASA/SAO

Even though the sun is the closest star to Earth and has been studied for hundreds of years, it still holds surprises. The recently launched Hinode spacecraft is one of the latest observatories to probe the sun from afar. One of three instruments on board Hinode is the X-Ray Telescope (XRT), which was developed and built by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Already, stunning X-ray views from the XRT are surprising astronomers and revealing new secrets about the sun.


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