JPL Logo
Image

Varietal Loops

Sept. 15, 2016
On Sept. 12-14,2016 NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spotted a series of active regions stretched along the right side of the sun exhibited a wide variety of loops cascading above them. Earth quickly passed in front of a portion of the sun.

A series of active regions stretched along the right side of the sun exhibited a wide variety of loops cascading above them (Sept. 12-14, 2016). The active region near the center has tightly coiled loops, while the region rotating over the right edge has some elongated and some very stretched loops above it. The loops are actually charged particles spiraling along magnetic field lines, observed here in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Near the middle of the video the Earth quickly passes in front of a portion of the sun as viewed by SDO.

Movies
PIA16997_Varietal_Loops171_big.mp4
PIA16997_Varietal_Loops171_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

Keep Exploring