00:00Scientists have just spotted something never seen before swirling across the sun.
00:04Tiny plasma vortices are forming across the sun's visible surface.
00:08The discovery was made using the powerful Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii.
00:13Researchers had to resolve structures just 20 kilometers across.
00:17That's an incredible feat from a telescope here on Earth.
00:20The vortices appear along the edges of giant solar granules.
00:24These regions can stretch between 500 and 2,000 kilometers wide.
00:28Scientists say the swirling patterns are Kelvin-Helmholtz' instabilities.
00:33And they could play a major role in twisting the sun's magnetic fields.
00:37That may help explain how magnetic energy is stored and released.
00:41The vortices could also help magnetic fields move into the solar atmosphere.
00:45Scientists say these tiny structures could reveal major secrets about our star.
00:51Disclosure. This video contains stock footage and content created, or enhanced, using AI-assisted tools.
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