Swirling, vortex-like patterns observed on the sun's surface

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 : Astronomers have obtained the highest-resolution images to date of our sun's visible surface, observing swirling, vortex-like patterns in superheated solar gases reminiscent of the shapes depicted in the nocturnal sky in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting "The Starry Night."The researchers made the observations of a portion of the sun's photosphere, a relatively thin layer — about 60 miles (100 km) in depth compared to the overall solar diameter of roughly 865,000 miles (1.4 million km) — using the U.S. National Science Foundation's Hawaii-based Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. The still images and time-lapse video reveal continuously growing whirls of hot plasma, gas heated to temperatures so high that subatomic particles called electrons break free from atoms and form