国际天文学家团队利用位于夏威夷的Daniel K Inouye太阳望远镜，成功捕获了迄今分辨率最高的太阳可见表面图像[1]。这一突破性观测揭示了以前未曾被观测到的微小等离子体涡旋状图案，这些结构与流体动力学中的开尔文-亥姆霍兹不稳定性相关联[1]。
新发现的太阳表面微观结构为理解太阳外层大气异常炽热提供了新的线索[1]。图像中某些"边缘"结构的宽度仅20公里，分辨精度相当于从180公里外辨别一枚1欧元硬币的难度[1]。太阳表面粒度大小在500至2000公里之间[1]，而此次研究首次确认了开尔文-亥姆霍兹不稳定性在太阳表面的存在[1]。
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research主任Sami Solanki评价道："新发现的等离子体涡旋令人印象深刻地展示了微小过程如何在我们能分辨极限处显著决定我们所在恒星的本质"[1]。相关研究已发表于Nature期刊[1]。
An international team of astronomers has obtained the most detailed image of the Sun's visible surface to date using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope located in Hawaii [1]. The breakthrough imagery reveals previously unobserved microscopic plasma vortex patterns on the solar surface, structures linked to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in fluid dynamics [1]. These findings may help explain why the Sun's outer atmospheric layer is exceptionally hot [1].
The captured details showcase extraordinary resolution, with certain "edge" structures measuring only 20 kilometers wide—a scale equivalent to discerning a one-euro coin from 180 kilometers away [1]. The granulation patterns visible on the solar surface range in size from 500 to 2,000 kilometers [1]. Sami Solanki, director of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, commented on the significance of the discovery, stating that "the newly discovered plasma vortices impressively demonstrate how tiny processes at the limit of our ability to resolve can significantly determine the nature of the star we inhabit" [1]. The research has been published in the journal Nature [1].