New Images of the Sun Show Its Surface in the Finest Detail Yet
Researchers found 47 tiny whirlpools in solar plasma, a first confirmed detection of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on a star.
- On Wednesday, researchers published findings in the journal Nature revealing the sun's surface in unprecedented detail, captured by the National Science Foundation's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui, Hawaii.
- Scientists originally utilized the telescope to test its operational limits, but discovered strange 'whirlpools' of activity and feathery rippling patterns on the sun's outer shell that were previously impossible to observe.
- Researchers identified the phenomenon as 'Kelvin-Helmholtz instability,' where magnetized plasma moving at varying speeds creates twisting magnetic energy that drives intense heat and plasma blasts on the solar surface.
- Dr. David Boboltz of the National Solar Observatory explained that understanding these dynamics helps predict space weather, which can disrupt Earth's power grids, interfere with satellite communications, and potentially injure astronauts.
- Study co-author Friedrich Woeger noted such detail has never been observed on the solar surface before, reinforcing the sun's status as a 'unique laboratory' for studying basic physics like Einstein's relativity confirmed by solar eclipse observations.
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283 Articles
The Sun has been imaged in unprecedented clarity – with a new telescope zooming in further than ever before. The images from the world's largest solar telescope may now provide answers to questions that have long eluded scientists.
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Highest Resolution View of the Sun Reveals Breaking Waves and Magnetic Mysteries
Scientists using Earth’s most powerful solar telescope have snapped a picture of the Sun’s surface that helped explain—for the first time—foundational physics about our dear star. Situated atop the summit of Haleakalā, a volcano on the island of Maui, the Daniel Inouye Solar Telescope peered down onto the surface of the Sun. Captured in the […] The post Highest Resolution View of the Sun Reveals Breaking Waves and Magnetic Mysteries appeared fir…
Vortex-like patterns on sun's surface eyed
WASHINGTON — Astronomers have obtained the highest-resolution images to date of our sun's visible surface, observing swirling, vortex-like patterns in superheated solar gases reminiscent of the shapes depicted in the nocturnal sky in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting "The Starry…
Never before has the sun been imaged in such detail, with vortices driven by magnetism. They look somewhat like ferns or…
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