Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery about the sun’s magnetic field using the world’s most powerful solar telescope. The National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, located near the summit of Haleakalā, a volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui, has captured the highest resolution observations of the sun’s visible surface.
Uncovering the Sun’s Secrets
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. By combining the detailed imagery with computer simulations, researchers have identified 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.
Understanding the Sun’s Behavior
The findings, published in the journal Nature, could help scientists understand the sun’s behavior and activity, which is difficult to predict. According to Dr. David Kuridze, assistant astronomer at the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, the discovery is a major solar physics breakthrough. The vortex formation on the Sun has long been a central question in solar physics, and for the first time, researchers have identified both their origin and their driving mechanism.
The telescope observations very closely matched advanced computer simulations that were also run by the team during the study. The simulations enabled the team to interpret what they were seeing from the telescope’s data and tease out details that are more difficult to measure with observation alone. Future observations could pinpoint the exact physical connections that enable predictions of large flares and solar storms.
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
