As the construction of the world's largest solar telescope - named after Daniel K. Inouye, a US Senator for Hawaii - concludes, more and more features of the powerful scientific facility have become available for research.
"These are the highest-resolution images and movies of the solar surface ever taken [...] Up to now, we've just seen the tip of the iceberg", Inouye director Thomas Rimmele said, cited by Space.com
According to Space.com, the features and ultimate resolution of the DKIST will allow the telescope to be used to closely study the solar magnetic field in unprecedented detail.
The cutting-edge telescope reportedly captured the jaw-dropping footage in December 2019 but its imagery was revealed only recently as the Hawaiian observatory is not completed yet.
The Visible Broadband Imager (VBI) was operational at that time as the only currently operational tool in telescope's arsenal, the media report said. The VBI is currently capable of making extremely high-resolution images of the solar surface and lower atmosphere.