A telescope, Stainless Steel and how to look at the sun in more detail than ever before

Some of the highest-ever resolution images of the sun have been revealed by NASA researchers working with scientists from the UK. These phenomenal pictures were analysed by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and NASA, offering astronomers a deeper insight into the sun's atmosphere. Before these images were published, there were many mystery’s about the sun’s atmosphere.   However, now scientists have made the realisation that these dark areas are actually made up of strands of very hot electrified gas - each strand measures up to 311 miles (500km) thick. The images in this post were taken by NASA’s new high resolution coronal imager (Hi-C), a telescope which was lifted all the way up to the cusp of space on a sub-orbital rocket flight. Due to the telescope being ultra-sharp, the telescope is able to pick out and identify structures in the sun's atmosphere as small as 43 miles (70km) long, or about 0.01% of its total size.   Stainless Steel is a feature in several areas of the Hi-C’s construction, these include thin-walled stainless tubes supporting the telescope the camera and spectrograph.   If you were unlucky enough to ever find yourself close enough to take a pic like this on your phone (and survived!)…. one of our stainless steel drinking fountains would be an excellent way to quench your thirst! Their natural anti-bacterial qualities of stainless steel drinking water fountains mean they provide the most hygienic access to drinking water for both public and commercial organisations.