Scientists capture most detailed solar images showing coils and whirlpools
Technology
Scientists have captured the most detailed images of the sun's surface yet, revealing tiny plasma coils, some as small as 25km, at the granule edges, and whirlpools spinning and growing super fast along its surface.
These swirling plasma spots can expand 2.7 times larger in 18 seconds and zip around at up to 2.8km per second!
DKIST images reveal NOAA 14060 twists
These new images, taken with Hawaii's powerful Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), could finally help explain why the sun's outer layers are hotter than its surface and what triggers solar flares.
By zooming in on a magnetically active region on the sun called NOAA 14060, researchers spotted intricate magnetic twists that might be key to how energy moves through the sun.