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Orbiter captures video of plasma swirling on the sun in “exquisite detail”
A spacecraft from the European Space Agency has captured new video of the sun’s surface, showing plasma swirling on the star’s “otherworldly” surface, according to a news release from the organization.
The ESA said the images were captured by the Solar Orbiter, which was launched in February 2020 and has spent the past several years releasing images from its place near the sun. The orbiter has also taken the closest-ever images of the sun and its polar regions, the ESA said online.
The new images were taken when the orbiter “filmed the transition from the Sun’s lower atmosphere to the much hotter outer corona” on Sept. 27, 2023, the ESA said.
In the video, the surface of the sun appears furred with dark yellow material as beams of gold swoop overhead. The hair-like structures are made of plasma, which follow the magnetic fields that emerge from the interior of the sun. The swooping structures are spicules, spires of gas that can reach a height of more than 6,000 miles. The “exquisite detail” of the images is unlike previous photos of the area.
Visible in the lower left corner of the video is a feature that the ESA calls “coronal ‘moss,'” which typically appears at the base of objects that are too hot to be seen with cameras.
Beyond the structures, the orbiter even captured an eruption on the sun’s surface. The event appears small, appearing in the middle of the video around the 20-second mark, but the ESA said the eruption is bigger than Earth. During the eruption, cooler material — which looks darker and absorbs radition from the sun — is lifted upwards and then falls down again.
The eruption is followed by a cooling coronal rain. The rain, which is made of clumps of plasma that fall back to the sun’s surface, is “probably less” than 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the agency said, and it appears dark against the large coronal loops, which are around 1,800,032 degrees Fahrenheit.
The unprecendented images were released as part the spacecraft’s mission to learn more about the sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was also examining the sun the same day the video was taken, measuring particles and the magnetic field around the star. The two missions even worked together to measure a solar wind that blew through the area, the ESA said.
U.S. and European law enforcement agencies are working together to investigate whether incendiary devices detonated in July at DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.K. were part of a larger operation directed by Russian Intelligence services (in particular, the GRU — Russian military intelligence), the highest level of the Russian government or by outside individuals acting in the interests of Russia, a source familiar with the matter said.
Officials are working to determine whether the larger operation was to place similar devices on aircraft servicing the U.S. and U.S. allies. The Wall Street Journal first reported the alleged plot targeting U.S. aircraft.
The 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment published at the end of October said the U.S. continues to be concerned about threats to the aviation and air cargo systems, including the “potential use of the air cargo supply chain to ship concealed dangerous and potentially deadly items.”
DHL said in a statement that it was aware “of two recent incidents involving shipments in our network. We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to protect our people, our network and our customers’ shipments.”
“We continually adjust our security posture as appropriate and promptly share any and all relevant information with our industry partners, to include requirements and recommendations that help them reduce risk,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
“Over the past several months, as part of a multi-layered security approach, TSA worked with industry partners to put additional security measures for U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States, in line with the 2021 TSA Air Cargo Security Roadmap,” the TSA’s statement continued.
The FBI declined to comment.
contributed to this report.
Boeing’s 33,000 unionized machinists on Wednesday voted to approve the plane manufacturer’s latest contract offer, ending a seven-week strike that had halted production of most of the company’s passenger planes.
The union said 59% voted to accept the contract. Members have the option of returning to work as soon as Wednesday, but must be back at work by Tuesday, November 12, the union said in a statement.
Union leaders had strongly urged members to ratify the latest proposal, which would boost wages by 38% over the four-year life of the contract, up from a proposed increase of 35% that members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) had rejected last month.
The revised deal also provides a $12,000 cash bonus to hourly workers and increased contributions to retirement savings plans. The enhanced offer doesn’t address a key sticking point in the contentious talks — restoration of pensions — but Boeing would raise its contributions to employee 401K plans.
Average annual pay for machinists, now $75,608, would climb to $119,309 in four years under the current offer, Boeing said.
The vote came after IAM members in September and October rejected lesser offers by the Seattle-based aerospace giant.
“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers stated last week in backing Boeing’s revised offer. “We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future.”
Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su has played an active role in the negotiations, after recently helping to end a days-long walkout that briefly closed East and Gulf Coast ports.
The Boeing strike that began on Sept. 13 marked the latest setback for the manufacturing giant, which has been the focus of multiple federal probes after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The incident revived concerns about the safety of the aircraft after two crashed within five months in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.
Boeing in July agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max.
During the strike, Boeing was unable to produce any new 737 aircraft, which are made at the company’s assembly plants in the Seattle area. One major Boeing jet, the 787 Dreamliner, is manufactured at a nonunion factory in South Carolina.
The company last month reported a third-quarter loss of $6.1 billion.
contributed to this report.
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