Overview
- A Nature paper published Aug. 5, 2026 reports that the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope recorded the highest-resolution images ever of the photosphere using only minutes of data.
- The images show spiral, vortex-like structures identified as Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities spanning roughly 19–170 kilometers across, with DKIST resolving down to about 19–20 km.
- The research team matched the observations to numerical simulations that reproduced the vortices’ shape and dynamics, strengthening the interpretation that these features are true KHIs.
- Authors say the continuous whirlpools can twist and braid magnetic field lines—a process called flux braiding that can store and release energy and may help explain coronal heating and the triggers of flares and coronal mass ejections.
- Scientists plan extended DKIST campaigns and new instrument measurements of plasma velocity and magnetic field to map how common KHI is and to test whether the small-scale process can improve space-weather models that affect satellites and power systems on Earth.