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  • NEWS FEATURE

Staring at the Sun — close-up images from space rewrite solar science

Researchers have never had such detailed views of our nearest star.
By
  1. Alexandra Witze

In August last year, the Sun began to throw a tantrum. Clusters of dark spots appeared on its face, marking regions where magnetic fields were knotting and twisting its surface. By early September, some of these sunspots had rotated around to the far side of the Sun — and let loose an enormous belch of superheated gas. This huge eruption raced outwards, engulfing a US$1.5-billion spacecraft that was orbiting nearby.

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Nature 622, 684-685 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03301-1

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