This snippet of the ‘first light’ image released by NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope shows the Texas-sized convective cells on the Sun’s surface in higher resolution than ever before. For the first time, the features in between the cells, with resolutions as small as 30 km, can be viewed, shedding light on the processes occurring on the Sun’s interior. (NATIONAL SOLAR OBSERVATORY / AURA / NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION / INOUYE SOLAR TELESCOPE)

This Multi-Trillion Dollar Disaster Is Coming, And Solar Astronomy Is Our Prime Defense

The NSF’s new, cutting-edge solar observatory shows us the Sun as never before. Here’s why we need to know.

On December 12, 2019, the world’s most powerful solar observatory — the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope —…