The Sun is the best-studied star in the galaxy, but ironically, its brightness makes it difficult to observe, allowing great mysteries to persist for centuries. But sophisticated telescopes make it possible to observe 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 discovered 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 in on a magnetically active area near a sunspot. Sunspots are considered hotspots of solar activity. The time-lapse images and 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 formed by magnetic fields and streams of fluid plasma. Combining detailed images with computer simulations helped researchers achieve a major breakthrough in solar physics: identifying the signature of small eddies 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 so much hotter than its surface. The eddies could also fuel the sun’s buildup of magnetic energy, which drives solar flares and coronal mass ejections. When directed toward Earth, this solar activity launches particles that can disrupt satellites, power grids, and other communications infrastructure.
