Science and Exploration

Cascading Magnetic Arches on The Sun

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
January 19, 2016
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Cascading Magnetic Arches on The Sun
Solar fiaments
NASA

A dark solar filament above the sun’s surface became unstable and erupted on Dec. 16-17, 2015, generating a cascade of magnetic arches.
A small eruption to the upper right of the filament was likely related to its collapse. The arches of solar material appear to glow as they emit light in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, highlighting the charged particles spinning along the sun’s magnetic field lines. This video was taken in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths of 193 angstroms, a type of light that is typically invisible to our eyes, but is colorized here in bronze.

Credit: NASA/SDO

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.