Tiny vortices discovered on the sun's surface
Researchers from the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory (NSF NSO), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, and the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) in the U.S. have made a discovery in solar physics. New images of the sun's surface taken with the world's largest solar telescope, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, built and operated by…
Researchers from the U.S. National Solar Observatory, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the High Altitude Observatory have discovered tiny plasma vortices on the sun's surface. Utilizing the world's largest solar telescope in Hawaii and advanced computer simulations, they detected these vortices which are about 20 kilometers in size - the limit of what even the most sophisticated telescopes can achieve.
These vortices are found at the edges of granules, which cover the sun's visible surface densely. The researchers believe they could hold the key to understanding how the sun stores and releases energy in its magnetic field, and how it contributes to the sun's rapid magnetic field changes that occur every 11 years.
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