NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have snapped the closest pictures ever taken of the sun.

The images, taken nearly 48 million miles away from the sun’s surface by the Solar Orbiter probe (launched February 9), reveal countless tiny flares which scientists have called “campfires.”

Scientists hope that these never-before seen exterior shots will help explain why the sun’s solar corona or atmosphere (over 1 million °C) is 300x hotter than its actual surface.

Earlier this year, the National Solar Observatory (NSO) brought us the sharpest movie of the sun we’ve seen which revealed each plasma cell the size of Texas.

“We didn’t expect such great results so early.” Solar Orbiter sends back its first pictures of our Sun — including the closest images ever taken of our star!
📸☀️👉https://t.co/7JXr0XQvuA

Solar Orbiter is an international collaboration between the @esa and NASA. pic.twitter.com/HLyDisAQkE

— NASA 360 (@NASA360) July 17, 2020

Our @ESASolarOrbiter mission’s first images of #TheSunUpClose reveal ‘campfires’ features 👉 https://t.co/RZbNZJIYSr pic.twitter.com/mzikuyGPge

— ESA (@esa) July 16, 2020