The sun is the most well-studied star in the galaxy, but ironically, its brightness makes it difficult to observe — allowing big mysteries to endure for centuries. But sophisticated telescopes are enabling observations of the sun like never before.
The world’s most powerful solar telescope has captured the highest resolution observations of the sun’s visible surface — and uncovered a hidden process that drives solar activity.
Scientists used the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, located near the summit of Haleakalā, a volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui, to zoom into a magnetically active area near a sunspot. Sunspots are considered hotspots of solar activity.
The imagery and time-lapse video reveal an unprecedented look at the sun’s complex and dynamic photosphere, the visible surface of the sun that exists as a thin layer of atmosphere shaped by magnetic fields and currents of fluid plasma.
Combining the detailed imagery with computer simulations helped researchers arrive at a major solar physics breakthrough: identifying the signature of small whirlpools on the sun’s surface that could directly impact life on Earth.
Known as Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, or KHI, the swirling patterns could explain enduring solar mysteries, such as why the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, is much hotter than its surface.
The swirls could also fuel the buildup of the sun’s magnetic energy, which drives solar flares and coronal mass ejections. When aimed at Earth, this solar activity blasts out particles that can disrupt satellites, power grids and other communications infrastructure.
