“Watching It Perform at That Limit is Exhilarating”: Inouye Solar Telescope Captures Highest Resolution Solar Flare Ever

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope captured the solar flare at the H-alpha wavelength in high resolution, clearly displaying the coronal loop strands during the decay phase of an X1.3 class flare. Coronal Loops and Solar Flares“This is the first time the Inouye Solar Telescope has ever observed an X-class flare,” said lead author Cole Tamburri. Inouye Solar TelescopeAfter 25 years of planning, designing, and construction, the Inouye Solar Telescope began observations in February 2022. That first goal was to use the Visible Spectropolarimeter instrument on the Inouye telescope to observe chromospheric spectral line dynamics. “It’s like going from seeing a forest to suddenly seeing every single tree.”“It’s a landmark moment in solar science,” he concludes.