Sharpest View of the Sun Reveals Magnetic Stripes the Size of Manhattan

Scientists used the world’s largest solar telescope to capture incredibly detailed images of the Sun’s surface, revealing ultra-fine magnetic stripes rippling across the star and magnetic fields that resemble fluttering curtains, which modify light. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope stands tall at 13 feet (4 meters) atop a volcano in Maui, Hawaii, staring at our host star with great intensity. Using the telescope’s unique capabilities, a team led by scientists from the National Science Foundation (NSF) observed ultra-narrow bright and dark stripes on the solar photosphere at an unprecedented level of detail. The recent observations, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, offer new insight into how the Sun’s magnetic fields shape the dynamics at its surface and affects space weather. The stripes, called striations, ripple across the walls of solar granules—convection cells in the Sun’s photosphere where hot gas rises from inside the star to reach the surface. They’re aroun ... Read full article.