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Telescope captures most detailed pictures yet of the sun
by applewood

    The images reveal the sun’s surface to be speckled with granular structures, like nuggets of gold, each about the size of France. Rising columns of plasma, superheated to almost 6,000C (10,800F), show up as bright spots at the centre of each grain – epicentres for the violent release of heat from the sun’s interior to its surface. As the plasma cools, it descends back below the surface via narrow, shadowy channels between neighbouring granules.

    This intricate level of detail will help improve understanding of the sun’s behaviour and allow its activity cycle to be predicted more accurately.