Clearest and most detailed images yet of the sun revealed

The clearest and most detailed images of the Sun have been captured by the largest telescope in the world. Just released first images and videos from the US National Science Foundation's (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope reveal unprecedented detail of the Sun's surface, with experts saying it will enable a new era of solar science and a leap forward in understanding the Sun and its impacts on our planet. The new images from NSF's Inouye Solar Telescope, which has a 4-metre mirror - the world's largest for a solar telescope - and sits near the summit of Haleakal? in Hawai'i, show a close-up view of the Sun's surface including a pattern of turbulent "boiling" plasma that covers the entire Sun. The images also show cell-like structures - each about the size of Texas - which are the signature of violent motions that transport heat from inside the Sun to its surface. University of Glasgow researchers are part of the UK consortium, led by Queen's University Belfast, that developed and supplied cameras to the project. Other UK institutes and industry involved are Andor Technology, Armagh Observatory, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Northumbria University, University of Sheffield, St. Andrews University and University of Warwick, with funding provided by UK Research and Innovation's Science and Technology Facilities Council. Professor Lyndsay Fletcher from the University's School of Physics and Astronomy, who is a member of the telescope's Science Working Group said "These amazing first-light images show the unprecedented capability of the Inouye Solar Telescope to capture details of the Sun's surface.