High-res images of the sun taken during the total solar eclipse of August 2026 reveal a coronal hole and intriguing structures known as smoke rings in the solar corona. (Image credit: Brno University of Technology/Miloslav Druckmüller)

Newly released photographs of the sun captured during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse reveal the sun's outer atmosphere in unprecedented detail.

The images, released by researchers working as part of the Solar Wind Sherpas project coordinated by the University of Hawaii, also show rare structures in the solar wind known as smoke rings. Named for their resemblance to the circles blown by smokers, these vortices were first identified in solar eclipse photographs captured in 2008. The researchers had long struggled to explain the processes behind their formation.…