Solar Telescope Captures Kelvin-Helmholtz Vortices on Sun's Surface

Astronomers using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii have obtained the highest-resolution images yet of the Sun's photosphere, revealing swirling vortex patterns in the hot plasma. The structures, ranging from about 12 to 100 miles in diameter, are identified as the first detection of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on a star’s surface.

The instability occurs when two streams of fluid or gas move at different speeds, creating wave-like vortices that can grow and break apart. "The interface can become unstable and develop wave-like vortices that grow in size until they break apart, not unlike waves out on a lake or out on the ocean in windy conditions," said Friedrich Wöger, senior scientist at the National Solar Observatory and co-lead author of the study published in Nature.

Researchers noted that the phenomenon, previously observed in Earth's atmosphere and on gas giants, involves hot plasma at roughly 6,000 Kelvin interacting with the Sun's magnetic field. "The difference from the waves and clouds we know here on Earth is that the two interacting fluids are hot plasma, about 6,000 degrees Kelvin and 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, moving within a magnetic field that helps create the conditions for the instability to develop," Wöger added.

Co-lead author David Kuridze said the findings could provide insight into how magnetic energy builds up and triggers coronal mass ejections and solar flares, which affect satellites, GPS, power grids and communications on Earth. "How these explosions are triggered is one of the main frontiers in modern solar physics," Kuridze said.

The team also remarked on the visual similarity of the solar vortices to patterns in famous artworks, noting that the shapes resemble those in Vincent van Gogh’s "The Starry Night" and Hokusai’s "The Great Wave off Kanagawa."