Overview
- The result comes from a Nature paper published Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, that pairs highest-resolution Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope images with analysis to identify Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the photosphere.
- The vortices are very small, typically about 20 to 65 kilometers across, and appear widely along the edges of strong magnetic regions where neighboring plasma flows move at different speeds.
- High-resolution MURaM magnetohydrodynamic simulations reproduced the same spiral vortices and matched their measured shapes and sizes, strengthening the interpretation that these are classical Kelvin-Helmholtz features.
- Scientists say the vortices can twist and mix magnetic field lines, which may build and release magnetic energy and help explain how heat and energy move from the visible surface up into the million-degree corona, with consequences for flares and space weather.
- Teams will next build automated tools to scan DKIST data and quantify how much energy the vortices transport upward, a step needed to judge their true role in coronal heating and in forecasts that protect satellites and power grids.