SOHO Pick of the Week – Slinky Loops 2 Jan 2002
The SlinkyTM-like loops in the 12/29 – 12/30 images are hot
(greater than one million degrees) features showing where a powerful
coronal mass ejection (CME) has left the Sun. Solar physicists
believe such loops are the signature of “magnetic reconnection,”
which accelerates charged particles in the coronal plasma to energies
well above that of the already hot, coronal gas.
