Observational Evidence of Solar Spicules Associated with Microfilament Eruptions Using DKIST

Q Dong, X Yan, Z Xue, L Yang, J Wang… - The Astrophysical …, 2026 - iopscience.iop.org
Q Dong, X Yan, Z Xue, L Yang, J Wang, Y Duan, Z Xu, Y Zhou, X Zhang, Z Wu, G Wu
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2026iopscience.iop.org
The formation mechanism of spicules is fundamentally important for understanding mass
and energy transport from the chromosphere into the corona. Recent studies suggested that
spicules may be powered by microfilament eruptions. However, direct observational
evidence remains limited due to insufficient spatial resolution. Using high-resolution H α
broadband observations from the Visible Broadband Imager on board the Daniel K. Inouye
Solar Telescope, we identify 30 spicule events triggered by microfilament eruptions in a …
Abstract
The formation mechanism of spicules is fundamentally important for understanding mass and energy transport from the chromosphere into the corona. Recent studies suggested that spicules may be powered by microfilament eruptions. However, direct observational evidence remains limited due to insufficient spatial resolution. Using high-resolution Hα broadband observations from the Visible Broadband Imager on board the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, we identify 30 spicule events triggered by microfilament eruptions in a quiet-Sun region near the solar disk center on 2023 August 29. The detected microfilaments have an average length of 0.93 ± 0.46 Mm and a minimum length of 0.17 Mm, substantially smaller than previously reported minifilaments. We identify two distinct morphological classes of ejecta: individual spicules associated with smaller microfilaments and enhanced spicular activities associated with larger microfilaments. Moreover, some events exhibit apparent twisting motions. All these high-resolution observations provide compelling evidence that spicules can be triggered by microfilament eruptions.
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