Our best look to date on a solar push reveals the wildest side of the sun

It took astronomers a little over a year to analyze the clearest images of a solar push. But they finally finished, and the results are lit – literally and figuratively.

Last year, the solar telescope Daniel K. Inouye de NSF captured a high resolution image of a cross solar push with dark strands of coronal loops. A more in -depth analysis revealed that the solar rocket was a class X thrust – the most powerful class – in the decrease phase. The coronal loop strands were on average about 30 miles (48 kilometers) in width, with a minimum thickness of 13 miles (21 km), which would make it the smallest coronal loops never seen. A detailed account of imaging and analysis was published in the astrophysics of letters on August 25, 2025.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNOAQ4RPLG4

“These enlightening rockets are among the most energetic events that our star produced, and we had the chance to catch it in perfect observation conditions,” said Cole Tamburri, the main study author and postdoctoral student at the University of Colorado Boulder, in a press release.

Solar incentive

For astronomers, each crackling, cough and combustive explosion of the sun records as a warning signal for an incoming solar storm – a burst of energy with the power to develop meteorological systems and earth network. This, with the obvious academic motivations, pushes researchers to zoom in on the ardent surface of our star.

The coronal loops are thin plasma arches traced through the magnetic field lines of the sun. These plasma ribbons often precede solar eruptions, so paying attention to their movement could help earth observers to better understand the dynamics of solar time.

Solve a solar mystery

The discovery also represents the first confirmation of observation of the width of coronal loops – a metric which has long remained in the field of theory. The unprecedented details net of the image of Inouye allowed astronomers to analyze each loop.

“It’s like going from a forest suddenly to see each tree,” added Tamburri. “This opens the door to the study not only of their size, but of their forms, their evolution and even the scales where the magnetic reconnection – the engine behind the thrusts – occurs.”

Researchers also wonder if coronal curls could represent “fundamental elements of flare architecture”, they said. If this is the case, this knowledge could revolutionize the way in which researchers perceive the data of the sun, and therefore its effect on earth.

“It’s a historical moment in solar science,” said Tamburri. “We finally see the sun on the scales on which it works.”