The sharpest-ever images of the Sun, published in August 2026, revealed plasma vortices as small as about 20 kilometres across—structures no previous telescope could resolve. They may help twist and transport magnetic energy through the solar atmosphere, potentially contributing to the still-unsolved mystery of why the corona is far hotter than the surface.

Inouye resolved the photosphere at about 19 kilometres and exposed Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices at magnetic boundaries, but their contribution to coronal heating remains to be measured. The post The sharpest-ever images of the Sun, published in August 2026, revealed plasma vortices as small as about 20 kilometres across—structures no previous telescope could resolve. They may help twist and transport…