SPACE/COSMOS
Tiny vortices discovered on the sun’s surface
Only the world’s largest solar telescope and complex computer simulations were able to make the vortices visible. They are changing our understanding of the Sun.
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
image:
The highest-resolution image of the Sun's surface (photosphere) ever captured, taken at 416 nanometers by the Inouye Solar Telescope. At the edges of the solar granules, the image reveals fringed-looking structures that display swirling motions.
view moreCredit: NSF/NSO/AURA/MPS
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 USA have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of 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 the NSO in Hawaii, along with highly sophisticated computer simulations, reveal tiny plasma vortices that have never before been made visible.
“To detect the vortices, we needed to resolve structures on the solar surface about 20 kilometers in size. That is at the limit of what even the world’s largest solar telescope and state-of-the-art simulations can achieve,” said MPS scientist and co-author of the new publication Michiel van Noort, who, among other things, contributed to the observations and conducted the data reduction and image restoration. The researchers used a broad-band imaging camera provided by the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research (MPS).
The vortices occur at the edges of so-called granules, which densely cover the Sun’s visible surface. They measure between 500 and 2,000 kilometers in diameter. Taken together, they form the Sun’s granulation: a pattern reminiscent of the bubbles in a boiling liquid. In fact, the granulation stems from plasma flows that rise from the Sun’s hot interior, cool down, and sink back into the depths. In the new study, researchers have now succeeded for the first time in visualizing fringed structures at the edges of the granules. Time and again, these structures display swirling motions resembling breaking ocean waves. Some of these “fringes” are little more than 20 kilometers wide. Resolving these delicate structures is comparable to discerning a one euro coin from a distance of 180 kilometers.
Instabilities in the Solar Plasma
The researchers interpret the swirling plasma flows as signs of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. This is a well-known effect in fluid dynamics. It occurs when two fluids flow past each other at different speeds. This generates shear forces at the interface, causing minute disturbances to grow into wave- or vortex-like flows. The effect manifests itself in a wide variety of contexts and on different scales — for example, on the surfaces of lakes or in ocean waves, in cloud formation, in the atmospheres of the giant gas planets Jupiter and Saturn, and in the interaction of the solar wind with planetary magnetospheres.
Apparently, also at the edges of solar granules adjacent plasma layers flow at different speeds, thereby creating the necessary conditions for Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities.
Twisted Magnetic Field Lines
The tiny plasma vortices now discovered on the Sun provide a completely new perspective on the processes through which the Sun stores and releases energy in its magnetic field, for example in the form of minute bursts of radiation known as nanoflares. According to current theory, the Sun builds up magnetic energy as magnetic field lines twist and coil — similar to the mechanical energy stored in a tightly coiled metal spring. This creates a highly energetic but also unstable magnetic field architecture. The stored energy can suddenly be released. In the process, known as “magnetic reconnection”, the twisted magnetic field lines snap open and reconnect.
However, it was previously unclear what actually causes the magnetic field lines to twist in the first place. The new discovery could provide part of the answer to this question. Since the vortices apparently occur constantly and wherever the magnetic field is strong enough, they could be the driving force that routinely triggers the twisting.
The analyses also show that the mini-vortices efficiently mix magnetized and non-magnetized plasma on the solar surface. This could help the magnetic field spread rapidly from the surface into the Sun’s atmosphere. Driven by changes in the solar magnetic field, our star’s activity fluctuates in an eleven-year cycle — which is exceptionally rapid on a cosmic scale. Such a quick change in the Sun’s magnetic “framework” is only possible if magnetic flux can be efficiently transported away through the solar atmosphere. Existing models cannot explain such rapid diffusion. On this issue as well, the newly discovered vortices could advance our understanding by a decisive step.
“The newly discovered plasma vortices impressively demonstrate how minute processes — at the limit of what we can resolve using all available techniques — significantly determine the nature of our star,” said Sami K. Solanki, director of the MPS and co-author of the new publication.
Journal
Nature
Method of Research
Observational study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Ubiquitous Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities driving plasma mixing on the Sun
Article Publication Date
5-Aug-2026
AFP
August 4, 2026
A SpaceX rocket’s upper stage is set to unintentionally crash into the Moon on Wednesday, a collision that poses no danger to Earth but will leave behind a lunar crater.
Scientists and amateur stargazers alike are looking forward to observing the sunlit plume of rubble and debris that is expected after the Falcon 9 upper stage strikes the lunar surface at approximately 2:35 am Eastern (0635 GMT.)
“It might be possible for folks with a telescope to observe the plume of ejecta created by the impact,” said Benjamin Fernando of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the lead author on a recent paper on the anticipated impact.
“It is unclear how bright it will be, which is one of the reasons why we are looking to study this event,” the researcher told AFP.
Assuming all of the propellant is spent, authors of the paper estimate the spacecraft weighs approximately 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms).
It is expected to slam into the Moon’s northern hemisphere near the Einstein Crater, at some 5,400 miles per hour (8,690 kilometers per hour).
“There is no danger to Earth,” said NASA spokesperson Jimi Russell in a statement.
“NASA will continue to track the booster for training purposes, as well as later observe the impact site for scientific purposes.”
The Falcon 9 rocket took off last January, carrying two lunar landers. The booster returned to Earth, but the upper stage stayed in space to push the landers onward.
Generally, for such “high-energy missions,” SpaceX performs a maneuver to make sure the second stage “is safe per the appropriate rules and regulations,” said Julianna Scheiman, director of NASA Science and Dragon Programs at SpaceX, at a Monday news conference.
“We did that,” she continued, but “what has happened is essentially a mixture of solar activity and gravity forces have put it on a path towards the Moon.”
Like many scientists, Scheiman added that “I also am very excited to see the observation.”
The paper authors encouraged both professional and amateur astronomers to attempt viewing or recording the collision.
“This event provides an opportunity to test a pipeline for localizing impacts on the lunar surface for future seismic experiments, investigating the dust and plume dynamics from impact events on the Moon, and considering hazards from artificial space debris impacts,” wrote the research team.
NASA hopes to soon establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, making it critical to better understand space debris in lunar orbit.
The Moon routinely weathers impact from space debris including meteoroids. Artificial collisions are less common.
In the 1970s, the US space agency carried out deliberate crashes during its Apollo program to collect seismic data.
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