At https://spaceweather.com … 5th August 2026 – we have a close up view of what is occurring on the face of the Sun. In more detail than any other image. It was taken by a large telescope on Hawaii and shows tiny ripples and whirlpools that previous telescopes were unable to see, or photograph. The whirlpools are caused by Kelvin-Heimholz instabilities. On earth the instabilities are what causes ocean waves to curl when the wind blows across the surface of the water. On the Sun, the wind = plasma [ionised gas]. Magnetised and non-magnetised plasma slide past each other at different speeds, we are told. The boundary between them rolls up into vortices. Does this lie at the heart of solar flare activity? – in the process leading up to a CME outburst?
At https://spaceweather.com … 9th August 2026 – Comet 220P/McNaught was just a speck in the sky in late May. It suddenly multiplied in brightness 7000 fold, fading back to obscurity after a few days. It has now flared up once again, and once again it is reputed this is caused by the heat of the Sun rather than interaction with the solar wind. The outburst propelled the comet to 7th magnitude, an easy target for binoculars and small telescopes.