Scientists capture the sun's surface in unprecedented detail, revealing tiny plasma whirlpools
Researchers using the Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii captured the sharpest images yet of the sun's surface, revealing tiny plasma vortices as small as 20 kilometers wide. According to ScienceDaily and TechSpot, the findings, published in Nature, point to a Kelvin-Helmholtz inst
An international team using the National Science Foundation's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui, the world's largest solar telescope with a four-meter mirror, has captured the highest-resolution images yet of the sun's surface. The images reveal tiny plasma vortices, some just over 20 kilometers wide, along the boundaries of the sun's granulation pattern. Researchers from the National Solar Observatory, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the High Altitude Observatory say the vortices match the signature of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, a shear-driven effect also seen in ocean waves, clouds, and the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. The team believes the vortices could help twist the sun's magnetic field and drive small eruptions called nanoflares, and may help explain how magnetic energy spreads fast enough to sustain the sun's roughly eleven-year activity cycle. The findings were published in the journal Nature. Source: ScienceDaily, TechSpot