Solar telescope captures smallest coronal loops ever imaged

Source: interestingengineering
Author: @IntEngineering
Published: 8/25/2025
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Read original articleThe Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui has captured the highest-resolution images ever taken of a solar flare, specifically an X1.3-class flare observed on August 8, 2024. Using the telescope’s Visible Broadband Imager with an H-alpha filter, astronomers imaged the smallest coronal loops ever recorded—plasma arches guided by the Sun’s magnetic field—measuring as little as 21 km wide. These fine-scale loops, seen during the flare’s decay phase, appear as dark, threadlike strands contrasted against bright flare ribbons, providing unprecedented detail into the fundamental building blocks of solar flares.
This breakthrough allows researchers to resolve individual coronal loops rather than bundles, a leap likened to seeing individual trees instead of a forest. The discovery confirms long-held theories about loop sizes and opens new avenues for studying their shapes, evolution, and the magnetic reconnection processes that drive flares. By revealing these ultra-fine magnetic structures, the findings enhance understanding of
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energysolar-energysolar-flarecoronal-loopssolar-telescopeInouye-Solar-Telescopesolar-physics