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Bright Side Universe — How Deep Have We Seen into the Sun?. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
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1:02full portrait of the sun by far. Thankfully our four and a half billion year old parent star didn't use any makeup to fix its skin tone before this photo shoot. And now we can study its surface in great detail. This iconic image was taken in March 2022. NASA wanted to gain a better understanding of solar behavior and its impact on life on earth and the future of our space technologies of course. To do so they launched the solar dynamics observatory satellite or SDO mission in February 2010. This legendary photo shoot happened 12 years later when SDO was halfway between the earth and the sun. Scientists had to assemble 25 individual images like a puzzle. So the final image contains 83 million pixels. Yeah the resolution is about 10 times better than your fancy 4K TV screen. Look at this amazing cookie-like pattern. Typically the bright surface of the sun overshadows it when we observe the star from earth. Thankfully NASA explored the light
2:05beyond the visible range which allowed them to discover some invisible details of the sun's face. When you adjust yourself with filters and effects you can end up with completely different portraits highlighting different spots of your face. Even those you didn't know existed. The same principle works here. All these plasma balls are the same photo of the sun captured at different electromagnetic wavelengths. The revealed spots and patterns can help us understand events happening inside the sun's skin a little better. At the speed of light is supposed to mean super quick but this rose gold ray caressing your cheek at dawn has come a long way and is incredibly old in human terms. Photons generated by the sun's core take between 10,000 to 170,000 years to travel through the star's atmosphere and then around 8 minutes more to reach earth. So let's explore what's taking them so long. Our tour begins with the upper layer of the sun's
3:05atmosphere. Remember solar deities and movies and theater plays they often wear a luxurious crown with golden rays. Well the real sun does wear a fancy corona too which is the outer layer of its atmosphere. But of course its size and glory are inco- Exima is unpredictable but you can flare less with eggless. A once monthly treatment for moderate to superior eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase about four and ten people taking eggless achieved itch relief and glare are almost glare skin at 16 weeks and also those people maintain skin that's still more glare at one year with monthly dosing. Empless. Libri Kizumap LBKZ. A 250mg per 2mL injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40kg with moderate to severe eczema. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Empless can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to empless. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. I problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have
4:07new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglus. Before starting ebglus, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask a doctor about ebglus and visit ebglus.lili.com or call 1-800-LiliRX or 1-105-455-979. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, athletic brewing fits right in. With a full lineup of non-alcoholic beer styles, you can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stuck the fridge for tip off with a variety of non-alcoholic craft styles, available at your local grocery store or online at AthleticBruing.com. Near beer, fit for all times.
5:08During total solar eclipses, it looks like a beautiful, intense radiation around the solar disk, which itself is completely blocked by the moon. The corona stretches 5 million miles above the sun's surface, whereas our blue planet is only about 8,000 miles in diameter. So, when hypothetical ray of the corona equals a row of about 625,000 Earth-sized planets, and suddenly, all my problems begin to seem tiny. Now, here's another fun fact. The sun's corona kind of breaks the laws of known physics, because it's hotter than it should be. Its temperature reaches 2 million degrees Fahrenheit, whereas the surface of the sun is only about 9,000 degrees. Although, the word only doesn't fit here, because it's still super warm in human terms. Usually, temperature tends to fall as you move farther from a heat source, but it's not the case here. Space scientists are still scratching their heads, trying to investigate this mystery. Thankfully, the recent photo shoot allows us to
6:09explore what's going on inside this massive hot stuff, without risking losing our sight. Take these beautiful bright spots, for example. They depict solar flares happening under the corona layer. Solar flares are powerful explosions that happen when magnetic fields bump into each other. When it happens, they change shape and quickly reorganize. These fields arise from plasma, which is very turbulent itself, so these events are no surprise for the local weather. Now, who would have thought that the sun has dark spots on its skin, just like people? These darker areas are known as coronal holes. Earthlings can experience their impact when they observe the beautiful aurora lights in the polar regions. Coronal holes look darker, because plasma in these spots is cooler, less dense, and magnetically open. These conditions allow the solar waste to escape outward across the solar system, rather than hang out at the sun's surface. And when they bump into the Earth's magnetosphere, auroras emerge to fascinate our eyes. Thankfully, the local fields cool down the solar
7:13winds. Nobody wants their eyes to melt, right? Now, if we were looking for an analogy to the sun's hairs, the best candidate would be solar prominences. These large, bright plasma loops arise from the sun's surface and stretch for thousands of miles into space. Their lifespan varies from days to several months. It's one of the most common events in this region. Although the first detailed description of solar prominence dates to the 14th century, modern scientists are still researching how and why they're formed. Diving further inwards, we're facing the transition region. The thickness of this layer is about 62 miles, and the local weather is unthinkable. Temperatures can rise up to 900,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The transition layer sits between the corona and the last region of the sun's atmosphere called the chromosphere. Now, I have created the most advanced AI soldier. The weight is over. Tronaries now streaming on Disney+. We are looking for something. Something you've discovered.
8:18And some of us will stop at nothing to get it. Ready? The countdown is complete. There's no going back. Dr. Rektiv is clear. Hang on! Tronaries now streaming on Disney+. Speaking of which, welcome to our next stop. The chromosphere region is famous for a scientific mystery called a spicule. Come on, say it with me. Spicule. Eh, that's fun. These spectacular, grassy-like jets of plasma fire upwards from the surface of the sun and reach speeds of approximately 224 miles per second, as if they're jumping on a trampoline from the surface of the sun. Each spicule lasts for just a few minutes in outer space before falling back into the solar atmosphere. Astronauts were having a challenging time trying to explain how magnetically charged particles could manage to escape the massive gravity of the sun while being so close to it. The possible answer emerged in 2017. A group of scientists
9:19discovered that neutral particles provided the magnetically charged particles with extra buoyancy to escape the solar gravity for a while, which is better than my cousin's explanation, which is happy thoughts and pixie dust. Yeah. Now, let's go ahead and travel 1,000 miles inward toward the chromosphere to finally reach the solar surface, the photosphere. It's around 248 miles thick, but unlike planet Earth, the sun's surface is not solid or stable at all. The temperatures here are insanely hot for any matter to exist. On the other hand, scientists often call plasma the fourth state of matter. And why not? It's made of ionized atoms and free electrons, so it kind of deserves to matter. So what's the matter? Maybe someday we'll happen to meet the local civilization of plasmoid people, but I think it's best that we skip their welcoming warm hugs. You know, hot, hot, hot. Anyway, the photosphere is our final stop, because humankind doesn't have the technology
10:21to explore the sun any deeper. So if you want to learn more, you'll have to invent your own spacecraft. But times of wasted, you'll only have about seven to eight billion years. After that, our sun will fade away, according to scientist estimates. Actually, those same scientists will be going first. Now, you have a serious competitor, though. NASA's Parker Solar Probe is the current champion for the deepest dive into the sun. The spacecraft managed to travel four and a half million miles from the sun's surface toward its core on September 27, 2023. And then, the Parker Probe repeated its own record once again in December of the same year. So why didn't it melt, I hear you asking? The probe has been designed to withstand insanely intense conditions and temperature fluctuations. It's equipped with a custom heat shield and an autonomous system protecting the mission from the massive solar lights. NASA has further ambitious plans. In December 2024, Parker will make
11:24its closest approach to the sun. It will travel faster than any man-made object has ever traveled at the speed of 435,000 miles per hour. The probe will be just 3.8 million miles away from the sun's glowing hot surface. It's like landing on a star. Astronomers have already compared this epic upcoming milestone with the moon landing. I'm thinking, however, it might be safer if we, you know, landed at night? Yeah, you're right, that's an old joke.
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