Highest-resolution Images Yet of the Sun's Surface | Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

Highest-resolution Images Yet of the Sun's Surface | Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

The highest-resolution images of the Sun's surface (photosphere) ever captured, taken at 416 nm by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawai’i. They reveal deformed boundaries of magnetic elements and ultra-fine scale stripes, both associated with Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI).

Researchers suggest that KHI may be a key reason why the Sun’s outer atmosphere gets so hot, and why magnetic energy builds up and moves around on the Sun. Magnetic energy fuels solar flares and eruptions—the kind of solar activity that can send bursts of energy toward Earth and affect satellites, power grids, and other technology. The discovery opens a new window into the fundamental physics of the Sun and other stars. It can help us better understand the physical mechanisms driving solar activity and how it can affect life on Earth.

An effect caused by fluid motion, KHI occurs when two fluids slide past each other at varying velocities creating a “shear” at the interface—causing small disturbances to grow into striking, wave-like or spiraling, vortices that look like breaking ocean waves. Since its original formulation by Lord Kelvin and Hermann von Helmholtz around 1870, KHI has been observed and investigated across many areas of physics, including fluid dynamics, meteorology, oceanography, heliosphysics, and astrophysics. The instability is observed at a variety of scales from small lake and ocean waves (in windy conditions) and cloud formations on Earth, to the atmospheres of gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, and the interaction of the solar wind with planetary magnetospheres within our solar system.

Learn about the world's most powerful solar telescope in Maui, Hawai’i:
https://nso.edu/telescopes/dki-solar-telescope/  

Credit: NSF/NSO/AURA/MPS
Duration: 6 seconds
Release Date: Aug. 5, 2026

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