Scientists have captured images of the sun’s surface in the finest detail yet, revealing a strange and dynamic facade.
It is dangerous to look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. But researchers were able to peek at its scorching surface with the help of the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, located on the island of Maui in Hawaii.
Scientists originally took the images for a different reason: to fine-tune and test the limits of the telescope.
But when they looked at the results, they realised they had photographed the sun’s bright outer shell at higher resolution than ever before.
What’s more, they saw strange feathery patterns rippling across the surface.
“That reminds me of famous paintings, like the swirling skies in Van Gogh’s Starry Night,” said solar physicist Ruizhu Chen from Stanford University, who was not involved with the new research.