Scientists have captured images of the sun’s surface in the finest detail yet. Researchers were able to peek with the help of a telescope on the island of Maui in Hawaii. They saw strange feathery patterns rippling across the surface, evidence of a well-known phenomenon that until now hadn’t been observed at this level on the solar surface. It can help scientists understand how magnetic fields work on the sun, which is at the root of intense solar storms that can scramble GPS communications and trigger colorful auroras on Earth. The new research was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.