The Most Detailed Photo of a Solar Flare Ever Taken

Record-breaking images from the world's largest solar telescope reveal a solar flare in unprecedented detail.

Credit: NSF/NSO/AURA, CC-BY

Researchers trained the Hawaii-based Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on the final stages of a powerful X-class solar flare, capturing detailed images of chaotic loops of plasma at the sun's surface. The observations could help scientists understand the mechanics of solar flares and improve predictions of future flares, says Live Science.

"This is the first time the Inouye Solar Telescope has ever observed an X-class flare," said study co-author Cole Tamburri, a solar physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder. "These flares are among the most energetic events our star produces, and we were fortunate to catch this one under perfect observing conditions."

Solar flares are massive bursts of light emitted by the sun during solar storms. Twisting magnetic fields create large, bundled loops of plasma called arcades that extend into the corona - the hot, outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere. When the magnetic fields get so convoluted that they snap back into place (a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection), the sun blasts particles and energy in the form of solar flares into space. When aimed at Earth, energy from the flares can disrupt radio communications and spacecraft orbiting our planet.

“This marks a potential breakthrough in resolving the fundamental scale of solar coronal loops and pushing the limits of flare modeling into an entirely new realm,” according to the U.S. National Science Foundation, which operates the telescope.