Natural Sciences Active Updated Aug 9, 2026
Tiny whirlpools discovered swirling across the Sun's surface
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope resolved plasma vortices just 20 kilometers across along the fringes of the Sun's granules, the smallest solar surface features ever imaged. Researchers think the vortices twist magnetic field lines and may feed small eruptions called nanoflares, a possible piece of the puzzle for why the Sun's outer atmosphere is far hotter than current models predict.
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Aug 9, 2026 Latest
Using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, researchers from the National Solar Observatory, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the High Altitude Observatory resolved plasma whirlpools just 20 kilometers across along the fringes of the Sun's granules, the smallest features ever imaged on the solar surface, and proposed the vortices twist magnetic field lines and may feed small eruptions called nanoflares.
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