BOULDER, Colo., June 1 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have developed a new instrument that has captured landmark imagery of fast-evolving magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere.
The coronal multi-channel polarimeter, or CoMP, uses a telescope with a lens roughly 8 inches wide to gather and analyze light from the corona, which is much dimmer than the sun itself. It tracks magnetic activity around the entire edge of the sun, covering much more area than previous instruments. It also collects data as frequently as a measurement every 15 seconds.
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which developed CoMP, said its images reveal turbulent, high-velocity magnetic features spewing outward from the sun's surface.
CoMP is expected to provide the best data to date on magnetic structures in the solar corona, the extremely hot halo around the sun that becomes visible during eclipses. Data from CoMP will help solar physicists relate magnetism in the corona to features emerging from the sun, such as prominences and coronal mass ejections.
Such features are the sources of so-called space weather -- solar storms that can disable electric grids and satellites and interfere with radio communications.
