Sun Surface Images

New solar images reveal unprecedented surface detail and possible whirlpools.

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Most detailed images ever taken of sun's surface revealed: "Major step forward"

Scientists capture images of the sun's surface in finest detail yet

Highest Resolution Images Of The Sun’s Surface Reveal Vortices That Could Explain Explosive Solar Activity

Summary

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The National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui has captured the highest-resolution images yet of the Sun’s photosphere, resolving structures smaller than 20 kilometers across. The images show narrow golden bands and whirlpool-like vortices in a magnetically active region near a sunspot. Researchers say the motions trace hot gas twisting and dragging the Sun’s magnetic field at the surface. The observations could help explain how magnetic field lines become tangled and reconnect, triggering solar flares, coronal mass ejections and geomagnetic effects on Earth.

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Solar Surface WhirlpoolsLeans Left

Newly observed whirlpool-like vortices on the Sun’s surface may help explain how solar magnetic fields become twisted and tangled. Understanding these structures could improve knowledge of the magnetic activity that leads to powerful solar eruptions and storms.