{"id":96570,"date":"2025-08-26T07:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96570\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T07:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:11:09","slug":"the-nsf-inouye-solar-telescope-delivers-record-breaking-images-of-solar-flare-coronal-loops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96570\/","title":{"rendered":"The NSF Inouye Solar Telescope delivers record-breaking images of solar flare, coronal loops"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"X-Class<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

video:\u00a0<\/p>\n

A high-cadence, high-resolution movie of the flare captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope, sped up by 100x – both bright ribbons and dark overlying coronal loops are visible. The image is about 4 Earth-diameters on each side.<\/p>\n

view more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit: NSF\/NSO\/AURA<\/p>\n

MAUI, HI – AUGUST 25, 2025 \u2014 The highest-resolution images of a solar flare captured at the H-alpha wavelength (656.28 nm) may reshape how we understand the Sun\u2019s magnetic architecture\u2014and improve space weather forecasting. Using the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, built and operated by the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO), astronomers captured dark coronal loop strands with unprecedented clarity during the decay phase of an X1.3-class flare on August 8, 2024, at 20:12 UT. The loops averaged 48.2 km in width\u2014perhaps as thin as 21 km\u2014the smallest coronal loops ever imaged. 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coronal loops are arches of plasma that follow the Sun\u2019s magnetic field lines, often preceding solar flares that trigger sudden releases of energy associated with some of these magnetic field lines twisting and snapping. This burst of energy fuels solar storms that can impact Earth\u2019s critical infrastructure. Astronomers at the Inouye observe sunlight at the H-alpha wavelength (656.28 nm) to view specific features of the Sun, revealing details not visible in other types of solar observations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time the Inouye Solar Telescope has ever observed an X-class flare,\u201d says Cole Tamburri, the study\u2019s lead author who is supported by the Inouye Solar Telescope Ambassador Program<\/a> while completing his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU). The program is funded by the NSF and is designed to support Ph.D. students as they create a well-networked cohort of early-career scientists at U.S. Universities, who will bring their expertise in Inouye data reduction and analysis to the broader solar community. \u201cThese flares are among the most energetic events our star produces, and we were fortunate to catch this one under perfect observing conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2014which includes scientists from the NSO, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), and CU\u2014focused on the razor-thin magnetic field loops (hundreds of them) woven above the flare ribbons. On average, the loops measured about 48 km across, but some were right at the telescope\u2019s resolution limit. \u201cBefore Inouye, we could only imagine what this scale looked like,\u201d Tamburri explains. \u201cNow we can see it directly. These are the smallest coronal loops ever imaged on the Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Inouye\u2019s Visible Broadband Imager (VBI) instrument, tuned to the H-alpha filter, can resolve features down to ~24 km. That is over two and a half times sharper than the next-best solar telescope, and it is that leap in resolution that made this discovery possible. \u201cKnowing a telescope can theoretically do something is one thing,\u201d Maria Kazachenko, a co-author in the study and NSO scientist, notes. \u201cActually watching it perform at that limit is exhilarating.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the original research plan involved studying chromospheric spectral line dynamics with the Inouye\u2019s Visible Spectropolarimeter (ViSP) instrument, the VBI data revealed something unexpected treasures\u2014ultra-fine coronal structures that can directly inform flare models built with complex radiative-hydrodynamic codes. \u201cWe went in looking for one thing and stumbled across something even more intriguing,\u201d Kazachenko admits.<\/p>\n

Theories have long suggested coronal loops could be anywhere from 10 to 100 km in width, but confirming this range observationally has been impossible\u2014until now. \u201cWe\u2019re finally peering into the spatial scales we\u2019ve been speculating about for years,\u201d says Tamburri. \u201cThis opens the door to studying not just their size, but their shapes, their evolution, and even the scales where magnetic reconnection\u2014the engine behind flares\u2014occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps most tantalizing is the idea that these loops might be elementary structures\u2014the fundamental building blocks of flare architecture. \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, we\u2019re not just resolving bundles of loops; we\u2019re resolving individual loops for the first time,\u201d Tamburri adds. \u201cIt\u2019s like going from seeing a forest to suddenly seeing every single tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

The imagery itself is breathtaking: dark, threadlike loops arching in a glowing arcade, bright flare ribbons etched in almost impossibly sharp relief\u2014a compact triangular one near the center, and a sweeping arc-shaped one across the top. Even a casual viewer, Tamburri suggests, would immediately recognize the complexity. \u201cIt\u2019s a landmark moment in solar science,\u201d he concludes. \u201cWe\u2019re finally seeing the Sun at the scales it works on.\u201d Something made only possible by the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope\u2019s unprecedented capabilities.<\/p>\n

The paper<\/a> describing this study, titled \u201cUnveiling Unprecedented Fine Structure in Coronal Flare Loops with the DKIST,\u201d is now available in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

About the U.S. NSF National Solar Observatory<\/p>\n

The mission of the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO) is to advance knowledge of the Sun, both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth, by providing forefront observational opportunities to the research community.<\/p>\n

NSO built and operates the world\u2019s most extensive collection of ground-based optical and infrared solar telescopes and auxiliary instrumentation\u2014 including the NSF GONG network of six stations around the world, and the world\u2019s largest solar telescope, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope\u2014allowing solar physicists to probe all aspects of the Sun, from the deep solar interior to the photosphere, chromosphere, the outer corona, and out into the interplanetary medium. These assets also provide data for heliospheric modeling, space weather forecasting, and stellar astrophysics research, putting our Sun in the context of other stars and their environments.<\/p>\n

Besides the operation of cutting-edge facilities, the mission includes the continued development of advanced instrumentation both in-house and through partnerships, conducting solar research, and educational and public outreach. NSO is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF. For more information, visit nso.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Contact\u00a0<\/p>\n

For media inquiries, please contact:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evan Pascual
Communications Specialist
U.S. NSF National Solar Observatory
media@nso.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Journal<\/p>\n

The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/p>\n

Article Title<\/p>\n

Unveiling Unprecedented Fine Structure in Coronal Flare Loops with the DKIST<\/p>\n

Article Publication Date<\/p>\n

25-Aug-2025<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"video:\u00a0 A high-cadence, high-resolution movie of the flare captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope, sped up by 100x…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":["post-96570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}