Space

These tiny swirls on the sun could trigger solar flares 

A huge telescope observed the swirls for the first time on the sun’s surface

a segment of the sun's surface with jagged lines and shades of orange swirls

This is the highest-resolution image of the sun’s surface ever captured. The structures seen here are swirling whirlpools of magnetized plasma that may energize solar flares.

MPS/AURA/NSO/NSF

By Fechi Inyama

High-energy whirlpools speckle the sun’s surface. 

New telescope images show characteristic swirls of magnetized plasma across a 19-kilometer-wide patch of the sun’s surface.