PHOTO: Spectacular images of the sun that have surprised even experts

Unprecedented images of the sun's surface have stunned scientists, revealing intricate structures previously unseen. Captured using the world’s most powerful solar telescope, the observations show the sun's surface resembling a mosaic of grain-like formations, each roughly the size of France. These detailed images, obtained near a sunspot in the sun’s magnetic active region, reveal small whirls and golden streaks that could help solve one of the greatest mysteries in solar physics, why the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. The images were taken with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope located on Hawaii's Mauna Loa, which has the highest resolution ever achieved for solar imaging. Dr. Friedrich Wöger, a senior scientist at the US National Solar Observatory managing the telescope, described the findings as groundbreaking. He noted that these images represent the highest spatial resolution ever recorded of the sun's surface. Earlier observations with the telescope had shown the sun's surface as a mosaic of granular structures, each approximately the size of France, according to The Guardian. Previous images captured details around 30 kilometers wide, while the latest images approach the limits of the telescope's capabilities. Dr. David Kuridze, an astronomer in the research team, expressed his astonishment at the clarity of the new images. “My first reaction was: 'Incredible, how can we see such fine and precise structures on the sun?'” he said. “This is something we've never seen in any previous observation of the sun.” On the latest images, small structures resembling whirlpools on the sun's surface have been identified as traces of a phenomenon known as Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. These occur when fast-moving plasma moves past slower fluids, creating shear at their boundary. These disturbances in the sun's plasma develop into spiral whirlpools similar to waves breaking. Scientists have observed Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in lakes and oceans on Earth, clouds in the atmosphere, and even in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, but their existence on the sun had not been confirmed until now. Details of the discovery have been published in the journal Nature. Explosive phenomena on the sun, ranging from solar flares and jets to coronal mass ejections, drive extremely strong and variable magnetic fields of the star. These explosions can cause major disruptions on Earth, including power grid failures, satellite malfunctions, GPS system errors, and global communications issues. Magnetic fields arise from the movement of hot, electrically charged plasma within the sun, but the physical processes behind them remain partially understood. Astronomers know that magnetic field lines can twist around each other like tangled hair, creating tension that suddenly releases when the entangled lines break. However, it is less clear what process initiates this. Whirlpools are now considered one of the main possible causes because they might explain how magnetic field lines begin to intertwine and why the sun's corona heats up to several million degrees, while the surface temperature is only around 6,000 Celsius degrees. “This could resolve the greatest mystery in solar and astrophysics over the last half-century,” Kuridze said. “When there is such instability in a system, energy easily transfers to smaller spatial scales. Eventually, it disperses as heat. This could explain the hot coronae, or the hot outer atmospheres of the sun and similar stars.” The findings come amid growing interest in understanding the sun's complex dynamics, driven by the need to predict space weather more accurately. As researchers continue analyzing the data, further insights into the sun's behavior and its impact on Earth are anticipated.